The Thunder have so much capital in terms of draft picks, cap space and young prospects that it’ll be almost impossible to botch their rebuild.
Over the past two years, the Oklahoma City Thunder have traded Paul George, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Dennis Schroder and Steven Adams, among others. They also shipped out some of the players whom they acquired in those deals—including Kelly Oubre Jr., Danny Green, Trevor Ariza and George Hill—for even more compensation. They added to their already robust war chest Friday when they agreed to trade Al Horford, Moses Brown and a 2023 second-round pick to the Boston Celtics for Kemba Walker, the No.16 pick in the 2021 draft and a 2025 second-round pick, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. In doing so, OKC continued its clinic in how NBA teams should rebuild. Prior to their acquisition of Walker, the Thunder had a whopping 17 first-round picks and 17 second-rounders over the next seven years, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks. They now have three first-rounders this year alone, two of which could wind up in the top five depending on how next week’s draft lottery shakes out. At absolute worst, they’ll walk away with Nos.8,16 and 18. The Thunder aren’t guaranteed to hit on all of those picks. There’s almost no way they’ll have a run as good as they did in the late 2000s, when they drafted future league MVPs in back-to-back-to-back years with Kevin Durant (2007), Russell Westbrook (2008) and James Harden (2009). But considering how well they’ve already restocked their roster, it’s hard not to be bullish on their future. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, whom they acquired in the George trade, is already on the verge of being an All-Star. He averaged 23.7 points on 50.8 percent shooting,5.9 assists and 4.7 rebounds while shooting 41.8 percent from deep on 4.9 attempts per game this season. He did so despite being the No.1 option on every team’s scouting report, which makes his efficiency even more impressive.
