OKC Thunder: 3 options for pick No. 6 after NBA Draft Lottery

OKC Thunder NBA Draft prospect option to select 6th – Jonathan Kuminga

Every front office executive will tell you they’ll take the best player/talent available but that’s not always the case especially the further down the board you get. That’s when teams will begin to consider positional needs more heavily.

In the case of the OKC Thunder, they’re more likely to stick with the best talent given their timeline to rebuild. That said, the current roster is guard-heavy with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Theo Maledon, Kemba Walker, and Luguentz Dort. Of that quartet, the belief is two are part of the core (SGA, Dort).

So while Presti wouldn’t ignore a top guard (Cunningham would be grabbed in a hot second) once the draft moves past the quartet there are players who might be considered interchangeable.

With that, the first player Intentions is looking more closely at is 6’7″ forward Jonathan Kuminga. For much of the season, Kuminga was firmly entrenched on most big boards as a consensus top-five draft pick. But an uneven season with the G-League Elite has some waffling on his draft position.

Unlike some of the clubs picking ahead of the Thunder his raw, undeveloped talent isn’t an issue for OKC. Their rebuild timeline means they can afford to draft the 18-year-old and patiently invest in developing him.

His stats with the G-League Elite were 15.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.0 steal in his 13 games. Kuminga has plenty of potential and upside but shooting is an issue. His splits in those matches were 38.7 percent from the field 24.6 percent from deep and 62.5 percent from the line.

The youngster would benefit from a great development staff like the Thunder who could find a way to unleash his athleticism on the defensive side of the court.