With the recent reports that the OKC Thunder would be willing to "gift" the history of the SuperSonics back to Seattle should they be reintroduced in the NBA, talks among fans and pundits of expansion plans have been quite prevalent of late.
The last we saw such an occurrence take place was back in 2004 when Charlotte entered back into the association as the Bobcats, and, as per protocol, took part in an expansion draft, which is a process that allows new franchises to acquire active players from already established teams in the league.
What's interesting about this activity is that, based on past rules, teams were required to leave at least one player (depending on the size of their roster) unprotected from entering into the festivities and, in turn, be eligible to be snatched away from the newly instated organization.
Should these guidelines remain the same, if an expansion draft ends up coming underway in the not-too-distant future, an incredibly deep team such as the Thunder would have a rather daunting task to figure out who of their talents would be labeled as off-limits.
Obviously, the likes of superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and rising studs Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren would be the first names tabbed as "untouchable" in an expansion draft, but that would still leave five other players eligible for such a distinction.
Considering coach Mark Daigneault regularly ran 10-man rotations during the club's 57-win 2023-24 campaign, it's hard to predict who outside of their star trio would ultimately make the cut, though, during a recent NBA Expansion Mock Draft, it was revealed that a particular forward on the Thunder could end up being highly sought after if marked as available.
OKC Thunder big Jaylin Williams goes No. 1 in NBA Expansion Mock Draft
On Thursday, Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective Podcast partook in a mock expansion draft with fellow ESPN pundits and personalities that spanned 14 rounds.
In the exercise, Seattle and Las Vegas were the lone two hypothetical teams involved, with the former landing the first pick while seasoned writer Kevin Pelton played the role of General Manager.
With the number one selection, Pelton admitted that, if this were a real draft, Seattle would "immediately want to call up the Oklahoma City Thunder" and, taking into account how Presti and company would likely shell out their protections, would go on to take soon-to-be third-year big, Jaylin Williams.
Now, as explained in the exercise, landing on the center was a result of highly plausible hypothetical negotiations between Seattle and OKC, as Pelton acknowledged that he originally was eyeing the recent 12 overall selection from the 2024 NBA Draft, Nikola Topic, though worked out a deal involving a 2025 NBA Draft pick being sent to The Emerald City along with the 22-year-old tweener big instead.
And while the upside of Topic certainly projects to be higher than Williams, losing the latter would still be a sizable blow to their rather lacking frontcourt depth.
Since being selected 34 overall back in 2022, the former Arkansas Razorback product has served as a regular commodity within the Thunder rotation and has seen solid per-game averages of 4.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.6 assists while shooting a highly respectable 38.5 percent from beyond the arc in 15.3 minutes a night.
Still, despite this harsh hypothetical scenario, touch decisions would likely have to be made should an expansion draft be held over the next several seasons.
Though in most scenarios having an obscene amount of depth on a roster is seen as a plus, should more teams be introduced into the association in the near future, it could ironically prove to be somewhat of a negative for the OKC Thunder.
Fortunately for them, however, this departure of Jaylin Williams is only a mere hypothetical... for now, anyway.