Oklahoma City Thunder all-time draft bust starting 5
![Terrance Ferguson and Darius Bazley, Oklahoma City Thunder Terrance Ferguson and Darius Bazley, Oklahoma City Thunder](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3401,h_1913,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/GettyImages/mmsport/157/01hpj6d92p47058z1sz2.jpg)
Center: Cole Aldrich
The 2010 Oklahoma City Thunder were on the rise, fresh off a 50-win season and their first trip to the playoffs with their young core. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were unstoppable, and players such as Jeff Green, James Harden and Serge Ibaka were all young and fitting into important roles.
The one position that wasn't locked down yet was at center, where Serbian center Nenad Krstic was a competent but underwhelming option in the starting lineup. The Thunder made a play to add a long-term center of the future to the mix by trading up in the 2010 NBA Draft to take Kansas center Cole Aldrich.
The Thunder missed out on the star talent of the 2010 draft, with Gordon Hayward and Paul George going off the board at 9 and 10 ahead of their new 11th pick; interestingly enough, both would end up on the Thunder down the line. In their defense, the rest of the draft was filled with "slim pickings" as not a single player taken after George would make an All-Star team.
Even so, the Thunder swung and missed on the Aldrich pick. He made it onto the court for just 315 total minutes across 44 games in his two years with the Thunder, and OKC was aggressive in filling the center position after they saw how little Aldrich would be helping them, trading for Kendrick Perkins at the Trade Deadline that next season.
Aldrich was large enough to make a difference inside as a rim protector, but on offense he had little to offer, committing twice as many turnovers as assists, and defensively he was fouling at an astronomical rate. There weren't a lot of better options available, but the Thunder did not get the player they needed when they drafted Cole Aldrich.
Should have drafted: Eric Bledsoe / Patrick Patterson
Next. 6 Oklahoma City Thunder players who turned their back on the franchise. 6 Players who turned their back on the Thunder. dark