Once upon a time, Sam Presti struck lightning in three consecutive drafts landing three future MVPs. With a draft cupboard brimming to its capacity can the OKC Thunder GM strike lightning twice?
When the request by Paul George to be traded occurred this summer OKC Thunder General Manager, Sam Presti made the best of a bad situation. Shortly afterward Jerami Grant and Russell Westbrook were also gone. The resulting effect of the trio’s exit was the OKC Thunder sit with a cupboard full of draft picks and draft swaps over the next seven years.
Due to the consistent competitive effort of the OKC Thunder franchise, it’s been a while since Presti had lottery picks to capitalize on in recent years.
Of course, the franchise began with the magical haul of three future MVPs in three seasons. That included Kevin Durant (2) Westbrook (4), and James Harden (3) from 2007 through 2009 respectively. Durant was selected and played for the Seattle SuperSonics and while technically Westbrook was also selected by the Sonics it represented the last pick made by Seattle as the team moved to OKC that summer.
Since that time, Presti has made just two lottery picks – Steven Adams (12) in 2013 and Cameron Payne (14) in 2015.
With the franchises own picks in hand and assuming the picks obtained via these trades fall within the parameters expected Sam Presti and the Thunder are set up to have two first-round picks in most of the next seven seasons (2020 through 2026).
Going through the picks the OKC Thunder possess including their own coupled with the picks Sam Presti grabbed this summer offers up quite a cornucopia of options. The following slides break down each year with a view to incoming and outgoing picks and all of the protections.