This past offseason, the OKC Thunder were one of the busiest teams in the NBA and while most teams looked to improve their team, GM Sam Presti and the Oklahoma City front-office completely dismantled their roster. The Thunder were picked to finish near the bottom of the Western Conference last season and ended up being the 5th best team in the conference over the course of the regular season, but that did not seem to matter for the Thunder as they are looking long-term.
As a result, Chris Paul, Steven Adams, Dennis Schroder, and Danilo Gallinari (via sign-and-trade) were all traded from OKC in exchange for mostly first-round draft picks, as it seemed like only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort and Darius Bazley were safe from the trade block.
The Thunder now own the rights to 19 first-round draft picks over the course of the next 7 NBA drafts and between first and second-round picks, they now own the rights to 33 draft picks through the 2027 NBA Draft. To put things in perspective, the 2027 NBA Draft will have NBA prospects who are currently in middle school! What Sam Presti and this front office have done is quite remarkable, but the job is not done yet.
So far this season, while they were picked to finish near the bottom of the league again, the OKC Thunder has looked very solid at times and are a couple of games back from 8th place in the Western Conference. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has single-handedly led this team and with him continuing to grow as a leader for this franchise, things are looking very good for OKC’s future.
Who knows what Sam Presti and the OKC Thunder front office plan on doing with all of these draft picks and some of the veteran players on their roster, but they not only have the assets to pull off numerous blockbuster trades in the future, but could have as much as $60M in cap space next offseason.
The OKC Thunder are in the best position possible out of any franchise in the league as they not only have young, promising talents, but they have the draft assets to build two teams worth of young prospects and high-level talent. While this franchise is building for the future through the draft, there are some trade targets who could become available that could help this organization tremendously.
Let’s take a look at three intriguing future trade targets for the OKC Thunder to consider not just before the trade deadline, but moving into next offseason as well.
