Understanding the OKC draft horde. This will only touch on the first rounders. They also have a large stash of second rounders.
| 2025. | OKC or LAC or HOU | PHI | |
* Sorry for my poor table making formatting
- That’s 17 total first round picks owned between 2021 and 2026. Three in every single draft with the excaption of “just“ two in 2025
-The
OR’s represent pick swap options.
-In all the pick swap options, OKC has the right to the higher(better) pick
-Looking at the protections and the teams involved, it is likely that every single one of these picks convey
-Looking at the protections, teams involved, and years several of these picks could potentially be lotto or even high lotto picks, but of course it is hard to see out beyond 2 years in the NBA given how quickly super teams can assemble and move around or disintegrate and trigger a rebuild. The LAC and PHX picks in the 2022 draft will likely both be in the 24-30 range. DEN and MIA in 2023 are likely to both be picks in the high teens to 20s as well. But if HOU and LAC end up being bad teams in 3+ years, it could be a windfall for OKC.
-They also own the rights to up to 14 other second round picks from OTHER teams between 2021-2027 and own all their own second rounders except for in 2023
It will be fascinating how they utilize this war chest because there simply will not be enough roster spots for the sheer number of picks they have and priority young players they already have on the roster. They will likely also continue to use their cap space to accumulate more draft picks. I don’t think signing a package deal of 2-3 elite free agents is part of their equation, because of location/market.
