The Oklahoma City Thunder locked up a playoff matchup with the Houston Rockets in the first round on Wednesday night by defeating the Denver Nuggets on a last-second shot by Thunder big man Mike Muscala. The team’s playoff positioning wasn’t the only thing that that shot affected, however. The Thunder had a draft pick that changed hands because of Muscala’s timely bucket.
As part of a deal that originally occurred all the way back in 2016, the Thunder gave up a draft pick that was top-20 protected to the Philadelphia 76ers. Through a variety of convoluted machinations, this pick originally belonged to the Sixers to begin with (and was recently included in the Markelle Fultz trade to Orlando).
The pick was top 20 protected. If it wasn’t conveyed, Philadelphia would have received a 2022 and 2023 2nd from OKC. The Thunder will receive a first from Denver as a result of the Jerami Grant trade. https://t.co/XXrQLhfLvy
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) August 13, 2020
Because Muscala’s shot pushed the Thunder into the 4-5 matchup with the Houston Rockets, their record just eked into the 21st position on the draft board – meaning the 76ers will once again select in that early 20s range, much like they did last year when it was clear they wanted Matisse Thybulle.
After a subpar year in 2018-19 in which he was traded a whopping three times – first from Atlanta to Philadelphia, then from Philly to the LA Clippers as part of the Tobias Harris trade and finally from the Clips to the Lakers in the asinine Ivica Zubac trade – Muscala had a far better 2019-20 season in OKC.
A career 36.7 percent three-point shooter at 6’10”, Muscala shot a lofty 37.5 percent from deep this season on a career-high 75.1 percent three-point attempt rate.
For NBA draftniks, as well as Philly fans, Muscala’s shot won’t soon be forgotten.
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