Though to some, the OKC Thunder nabbing the sixth selection during this year’s NBA draft lottery should be considered a luxury — after all, it’s still well within the top-10 –, for others, such a turnout wound up labeling the entire 2020-21 campaign as a relative failure.
After five straight seasons ending with postseason berths, and 10 through their 13 years of existence, Oklahoma City opted to call it quits on contention this past year, all in the name of rebuilding.
With some specific decisions made by the coaching staff and front office, by the mid-way point of the campaign, it was evident that the Thunder were embarking on a full-out tank job and, by the end of game No. 72, the team’s fate looked to be in good hands, as they secured the fourth-worst record in the league at 22-50 and, in turn, held the fourth-best odds of landing the top-slot come draft night and had a 52.5 percent chance of landing a top-5 pick.
Now, two days after the draft lottery, it’s now known that these losing efforts were all for naught, as the OKC Thunder found themselves falling, not just outside of the top-3 selections but the top-5 as well, thus making their “fade for Cade” ideology completely irrelevant.
Because of this, the folks at Bleacher Report have gone about and deemed the seemingly mighty Thunder as one of the biggest losers from the 2021 NBA draft lottery.
"There was a non-zero chance the Thunder could walk away from the lottery with a pair of top-five picks in hand: their own, which had a 52.4 percent chance of landing there, and the Houston Rockets’, which belonged to OKC on the 47.9 percent chance it fell to No. 5.The Thunder instead collected only the No. 6 selection, which is an especially big blow if you share the popular belief this draft class has a clear-cut, five-player tier at the top: Cunningham, Evan Mobley, Jalen Suggs, Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga. Barring a move up or an unexpected pick from a team in the top five, OKC won’t have access to any of those potential franchise-changers."
Now, while the OKC Thunder still find themselves with 3 first-round picks in this year’s draft, and will still be in the running for some intriguing young talents like Scottie Barnes with their own selection, after such a grueling season that saw the team’s worst record in franchise history, falling to sixth is an absolute disappointment.
While it may seem a bit harsh to call the franchise “losers”, for this outcome was not entirely in their control, frankly, we can’t help but agree with B/R’s choice of words.