Thunder Have Intriguing Second Round Ahead in 2021 Draft

The Oklahoma City Thunder don’t have an illustrious record with second round draft picks.

Not that many teams do.

But in seven of the twelve years drafting as OKC, they haven’t even made a second round selection.

That’s why the Thunder’s three second round picks in the potentially loaded 2021 NBA Draft are heavily intriguing.

Oklahoma City will own the 34th, 36th and 55th picks in the upcoming draft. Traditionally, early second rounders can be valuable, and this draft should be no different.

Other than an irregularly aggressive second round in 2018 where OKC grabbed three players; Devon Hall, Kevin Hervey and the rights to Hamidou Diallo, the Thunder haven’t necessarily even attempted the second round much.

Others include Magnum Rolle and Dakari Johnson, neither of which made much of a splash.

Here were OKC's selections in the last 12 drafts:

2009: None

2010: Magnum Rolle, Lousiana Tech

2011: None

2012: None

2013: Alex Abrines

2014: None

2015: Dakari Johnson, Kentucky

2016: None

2017: None

2018: Devon Hall, Virginia; Kevin Hervey, UT Arlington; acquired Hamidou Diallo, Kentucky

2019: None

2020: Theo Maledon

Alex Abrines was their highest contributor before Theo Maledon, who has more than proved he was worthy of a second round selection.

General manager Sam Presti’s most likely option for 2021 is to package all three in order to shoot up the order as high as possible. Consolidating will undoubtedly help the team’s chances in the long run, and the team is running out of development room anyways.

Now for the more fun option: take a chance on all three and hope one pans out.

I’m not going to sugarcoat the chance of landing a valuable NBA contributor as a second round draft pick isn’t great. But in an above average draft, a strong prospect falling is sure to happen.