OKC Thunder: The 5 early signs the team’s goal of tanking is working

Goal No. 4: Avoid targeting high-end talents who want to win now

While the goal will be to tank and rebuild there is an argument to be made to add valuable assets in combination with the draft picks.  With so many draft picks in hand the OKC Thunder will be in the mix for every trade conversation simply because of that draft capital.

Yet this part of the equation needs to be handled with discretion since the window has a very specific timeframe. There are a handful of talents in the NBA any team would leap at adding.

This past week, the team at Thunderous Intentions joked with Giannis Antetokounmpo signing his max extension it meant the ONLY teams who could be involved in future sign and trade discussions with the Bucks if the MVP changed his mind are the Thunder and Pelicans.

Only these two teams have ample draft capital to barter with. In comparison, the club who garnered the MVP (Raptors, Heat, Mavericks, Warriors) don’t have extra picks and would need to dilute their depth to land a player of Giannis’ ilk. Not that this situation will arise, but it demonstrates how much value Sam Presti has in hand.

Likewise, while former Thunder star James Harden’s days in Houston seem numbered OKC isn’t in the mix of teams who would vie for his services. His desire is to win now and the Thunder have more than enough to barter with BUT – Presti knows Harden isn’t the player he wants to shift his timeline for.

Eventually, there may come a day in the near future when the team has added a generational draft talent (or two, or three). At that stage, all those extra draft picks could be packaged to add an existing talent to the mix. But that day is in the future.