OKC Thunder: 2 players worth taking outside of top-3

When it comes to the OKC Thunder, obviously the goal all season has been to build for a better tomorrow.

This was made evident by numerous actions made by both the front office as well as the coaching staff, with perhaps the biggest example of Oklahoma City steering towards a culture shift towards the future being the decision to sit Al Horford for the final 27 games of action in an effort to give the team’s youngsters more time on the hardwood.

Their youth movement wound up working in two ways for the team, as not only did it give their first and second-year ballers more experience but it also allowed the team to seamlessly tank away 2020-21, as they went on to finish with the fourth-worst record in the association at 22-50.

In turn, the Thunder are current holders of the fourth-best odds of landing the No. 1 pick come July’s event, and have a 52.5 percent chance of coming away with a top-5 selection on the night.

Now, of course, the hope for the franchise and fans alike is that Sam Presti and co. will find themselves nabbing the top slot in the 2021 NBA Draft or, at the very least, a top-3 pick, as this year’s class has some stupendous talents at the top of virtually everyone’s big board.

That said, while they have a solid chance of finding themselves within this desired range, there’s also a strong possibility that they drop outside of the top-3, and, looking at recent mock drafts, many believe this could wind up being the case come draft night.

Fret not, though, OKC Thunder fans, for we at TI believe there are 2 players, in specific, that could make up for the team potentially missing out on the top-3: