What should you expect the OKC Thunder to do with the second overall pick?
By Rylan Stiles
The NBA Draft is nearly here, we sit inside four days, 20 hours, and four minutes until Adam Silver takes the podium and officially puts the Orlando Magic on the clock and tip-off what should be an incredible night in OKC Thunder history full of surprises.
Every offseason, Sam Presti pulls off a surprising move, or two, or three. Widely regarded as one of the best General Managers in the sport, running the most tight-lipped organizations in the NBA. In this article, I am going to attempt to do the impossible, and cover every possible move the OKC Thunder might make on Thursday.
These moves will go in order of most likely to the least likely outcome for the second overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. Separate articles will be released for the 12th and 34th overall selections.
What should you expect the OKC Thunder to do with the second overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft? What tricks might Sam Presti have up his sleeve?
Folks, it is finally here. The entire 2021-22 Oklahoma City Thunder season was about this week, draft week in New York City. Things could not have possibly gone better, who would have thought the L.A. Clippers would have not only missed the cut-off for the outright playoffs but lost the subsequent play-in game?
This gifted the Oklahoma City Thunder an additional lottery pick (12) as their own selection leaped up to the second slot from four. This was great news in Bricktown not only for the fact of gaining lottery luck but because at the time of the lottery, just a short month ago, the NBA world viewed this as a three-player draft at the top.
Had the Thunder’s pick stayed at four, or dropped on Lottery night, it would have been the second straight year the tanking team just missed the perceived draft cut-off. Sam Presti salvaged last year’s poor lottery luck by bringing in Josh Giddey, who turned out to be a home run pick, even with highly touted Jonathan Kuminga still on the board.
Though, this is the NBA we are talking about, a year-round sport filled with drama, distractions, debates, and deception. Between last month and today, Jaden Ivey has leaped up into the conversation at the top three, I have heard more than a few teams have Ivey within the top three of their big boards.
Are we in for another draft day stunner? Let’s discuss every option OKC has at their disposal on Thursday from most likely to least likely, and if Sam Presti does something not listed in this article I will retire. (Editor Note: Not really, but I will be very confused)