With the Oklahoma City Thunder ending the Russell Westbrook era by trading him to the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul along with a healthy batch of draft assets, the Thunder has quickly amassed a grand total of eight first-round picks.
I left out Thunder's Jerami Grant deal with Denver: OKC has acquired EIGHT first-round picks since draft night: 2020: Denver (1-10), 2021: Miami; 2022: LAC; 2023: Miami (1-14), 2024: LAC; 2024: Houston (1-14); 2026: LAC; 2026: Houston (1-4).
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 12, 2019
This collection does not include the unprotected pick swaps the team has also accumulated as part of the flurry of deals they struck in the last seven days. A case could be made that these are more valuable since it is unprotected and some are expected to turn over as early as 2021.
Be that as it may, the Thunder is clearly playing the long game with their deals. With the exception of acquiring incoming sophomore Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from the Los Angeles Clippers via the Paul George trade, OKC is opting to go for picks rather than the usual return of demanding young building blocks be added to the mix. This could also be attributed to the team's desire to stray farther away from luxury tax territory after successfully avoiding the repeater tax with the Jerami Grant salary dump to the Denver Nuggets.
While the haul they received from the Westbrook deal wasn't the blockbuster many envisioned it to be given the triple-double-averaging superstar's still dominant status (and the fact that Paul's contract is a similar super max albatross), the Thunder hopes that the two first-rounders and two pick swaps more than make up for it.
With three of their starters gone, the Thunder will now resume plans of moving Steven Adams and likely Dennis Schroder. Although it is unlikely that their streak of first rounders will also continue.
Follow Us
Subscribe