Sam Presti's Draft Pick Vault Could Come in Handy in the Trade Market
Sam Presti might be the greatest pick compiler in NBA history.
Embarking on a massive rebuild for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Presti has stockpiled a historic number of draft picks, owning 18 first-round selections over the next six years.
Obviously Presti can use all of those picks, as the 18 first-round picks alone would exceed the NBA roster limits, but drafting talent isn’t the only value for picks.
As NBA superstars continue to wield their power across the league, Presti has positioned the Thunder to be at the forefront of any trade discussions purely because of how many assets he could offer a franchise also looking to enter the rebuilding game.
And it’s not out of the question that Presti will be able to cash if OKC’s core appears primed for another playoff run in a few years.
Going off of the NBA player tiers that were recently published by The Athletic, 19 of the top 30 players in the NBA are under contract through at least 2025.
That means that 63.3 percent of the top 30 players in the league are under team control for at least four years, and a lot can change in that time — especially in the NBA.
Of the 11 players who are scheduled to hit free agency before 2025, Zion Williamson and Ja Morant will both likely sign their rookie extensions, regardless of how upset Williamson is with the Pelicans, as most players go ahead and lock in their first maximum contract extension with the franchise that drafted them.
Furthermore, LeBron James, James Harden and Kyrie Irving are all slated to hit free agency before 2025, but it doesn’t make much sense for the Thunder to look to acquire any one of those players at this point in both their careers, as they don’t really fit the Thunder’s timeline. Throw in a pair of guys like Chris Paul and Mike Conley into that conversation, paired with the expected extensions of Williamson and Morant, and the league could 21 of its top 25 players under contract for the foreseeable future.
This is the best case scenario for a franchise like Oklahoma City to acquire a superstar through anything but the NBA Draft.
Presti had the assets laying around to aggressively pursue Paul George via trade. And while it didn’t work out as anyone had planned, the Thunder were able to successfully court George for an entire year and convince him to sign on the dotted line to stay in Oklahoma City, even though they dealt him one offseason later.
The Thunder may swing for the fences again and miss, but at least the collection of draft picks affords the franchise opportunities previously out of reach for one of the NBA’s smallest markets.
But on the off chance that the Thunder hit a home run, OKC could wind up with a bonafide star to place alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and their young core, making the frustration of trading away veteran after veteran well worth the wait.
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