OKC Thunder perplexing 2021 NBA Draft: More questions than answers

The OKC Thunder had high hopes leading up to this year’s NBA draft, but the team ends the night with seemingly more questions than answers.

Draft night is known for knee-jerk reactions and way-too soon grades of how a team performed. Normally, it takes a year or two for one to see just how a given team performed on a given draft night. For the OKC Thunder and their current rebuild, fans will be wanting results sooner than later after this head-scratching night of picks and trades.

What was the OKC Thunder front office thinking?

The night started with conspiracy theories of OKC trading into the top 3 to select Evan Mobley, one of this year’s “can’t miss” prospects. Sam Presti was supposed to dig deep into his cauldron of draft capital and snag the next star to put next to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. After the Cavs held serve and drafted Mobley, despite a valiant trade effort from OKC, many were left wondering what the Thunder were going to do.

As the 6th pick came around and the top 5 prospects already selected, the Thunder were in a precarious position. Would they take a chance on the upside of someone like Jonathon Kuminga? Or take James Bouknight, the player mocked to OKC for the last month? They decided to come out of left field and take Australian Guard, Josh Giddey, shocking most pundits and the fanbase alike.

Giddey is a player that is extremely talented. A 6’8 guard with expert court vision and passing chops. But even for someone who enjoys his game, sixth felt like a reach in this spot for the Thunder.

After a slew of other picks, the Thunder were once again on the clock at pick 16 with fan-favorite Alperen Sengun sitting there for the taking. In the most confusing move of the night, OKC traded the selection to the rival Houston Rockets for two highly-protected first-round picks. Houston, of course, took Sengun, the Turkish League MVP.

Now, I understand the want for more draft capital. As thunder fans, we have grown accustomed to cherishing our treasure trove of assets, but this move felt forced in this scribe’s humble opinion. Sengun, or anyone else really, could have made more of an impact than two first-round picks that probably won’t be valuable due to their protections.

Only time will tell if the Thunder have more trades up their sleeve with this added ammunition of assets, but for the time being it feels like a missed opportunity to take a player with extremely high upside in Sengun.

Moving on with the night, the Thunder were back on the clock two picks later at the 18 slot. With it, they selected guard Tre Mann out of the University of Florida. Mann is a talented scorer but he was graded to go way later in the draft, which made this yet another confusing selection for the most confusing team of the evening.

To wrap up the night, the Thunder traded picks 34 and 36 to the Knicks for pick 32 and selected Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, a player that is more than underwhelming. Not to say he won’t be a solid NBA player, but Robinson-Earl was yet another stunner of a draft pick. He’s a versatile 6’9 post player that does a lot of things well but does not have a clear strength. Just perplexing.

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With their last pick, the Thunder took guard Aaron Wiggins out of the University of Maryland. Wiggins is a project of a player with the potential to be a 3-D wing in the NBA. A nice piece late in the draft that might be the one bright spot on a frustrating night for the team.

The funny thing about the draft is things seem confusing and do not make sense at the moment. I say all of these things as it’s hard to see the fit with these players on OKC’s current team. The positive thing to take away is that the Thunder are far from done in terms of moves this offseason.

Who knows, maybe Josh Giddey is a future All-NBA player and JRE becomes a future all-star. Crazier things have happened in the league, just look at this past year. The MVP, Nikola Jokic, was a former second-round pick.

The Milwaukee Bucks won the Finals with a player that when drafted, did not seem like the type to drop 50 points in an NBA Finals close-out game. Anything can happen, but for now, the future is murkier than ever for the OKC Thunder. Only time will tell how this draft impacts the future.