The Oklahoma City Thunder reluctantly entered a rebuild when they acquiesced to Paul George’s trade request last week, but they have since done quite well for themselves.
The Thunder have amassed an absurd amount of draft picks in return for some of their traded players. They got five first-round picks from the Clippers in the George trade (three Clippers and two Miami Heat picks). They received two more first-round picks from the Houston Rockets for Russell Westbrook. They also received a first-round pick from Denver in a trade of Jerami Grant.
Albert Nahmad listed all the future first-round picks the Thunder possess entering the 2020 NBA Draft, including protections and pick swaps.
OKC 1sts:
2020 Own (1-20)
2020 DEN (11-30)
2021 Own (HOU 5-30 swap right)
2021 MIA (HOU 5-30 swap right)
2022 Own (1-14)
2022 LAC
2023 Own (LAC swap right)
2023 MIA (15-30)
2024 Own
2024 LAC
2024 HOU (5-30)
2025 Own (LAC and HOU 21-30 swap right)
2026 Own
2026 LAC
2026 HOU (5-30)— Albert Nahmad (@AlbertNahmad) July 12, 2019
The Thunder’s first-round pick for next year is protected 1-20 from the trade with Philly that brought them Jerami Grant. They likely won’t have to worry about losing that pick, which will convert to two future second-round selections. Their top-14 protected pick in 2022 comes from when they dumped Carmelo Anthony.
The Thunder have the right to choose to swap either theirs or Miami’s first-round pick with Houston in 2021. In 2025, they will have the right to swap theirs or the Clippers’ first-round pick with Houston.
This is a crap load of picks, but it might take a while for the assets to pay off. The highest picks they will probably get the next few years will be their own. Beyond that, they’ll have to hope for the Heat to be bad soon and the Clippers and Rockets to be worse years from now.
