NBA Mock Trade: Thunder Acquire No. 9 Pick in 2023 Draft

As things stand now, the Utah Jazz are set to make the ninth selection of the 2023 NBA Draft. They’re also coming from a weird situation. They were supposed to tank when the season started, but they came out of the game over succeeding and plans had to change. They were supposed to be in the Wembanyama sweepstakes, but ultimately did just enough to narrowly miss postseason play at the season’s end.

The Jazz have a solid young core of Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler and even Collin Sexton. They’ve got young depth in Ochai Agbaji, Talen Horton-Tucker and Johnny Juzang, who are both potential projects to be developed. This draft, they’ll be able to add onto that whether they maintain their pick or draft backwards.

The Oklahoma City Thunder could offer an enticing package to the Jazz to suit their needs. The Jazz are also drafting at pick No. 16. So, they could trade back to pick No. 12 as well to maintain a lottery pick, while the Thunder can give them future draft picks to help them spread their wealth.

With the way the Jazz have operated their rebuild thus far, it’s clear they’re not going to reset. Picking at picks No. 12 and No. 16 would allow the Jazz to get two guys they like and invest in future assets to ensure they don’t have to reset their roster to advance in their rebuild.

Thunder general manager Sam Presti has no issue investing assets to make sure he can get his desired prospect in the draft. He sent the New York Knicks three future protected first-round draft picks in last year's draft to draft Ousmane Dieng and Jalen Williams back to back.

Outside of the top four picks, it’s unclear how the rest of the top ten picks will shape out. At pick No. 9, the Thunder could likely land one of Jarace Walker, Anthony Black or Taylor Hendricks, all of which could theoretically benefit or thrive in the Thunder’s system. If Presti believes it’s worth moving up to land one of those guys, he’ll have no issues making a trade to land in the top ten pick range.

Oklahoma City's Offer: No. 12 pick, Tre Mann, Sixers 2025 second-round pick, Hawks 2025 second-round pick OR No. 12 pick, Clippers 2024 first-round pick

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