The Oklahoma City Thunder have had a pretty hard fall from their glory days just a few years ago. Going from Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook to Russell Westbrook and Paul George to Shai, Lu Dort, and George Hill isn’t exactly a good trajectory.
Still, GM Sam Presti has really set his team up for the future.
As a result of all the team’s trades(namely the ones that sent Russ and PG packing), OKC has assembled an insanely high stockpile of draft picks. In fact, over the next seven years, they’re set to have 30+ picks…
Unreal: The OKC Thunder have 19 1st-round picks/swaps, and 16 2nd-round picks over the next 7 years. (via @statmuse) pic.twitter.com/T1QGWYcXA7
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) March 17, 2021
“The Process” was an infamous and controversial strategy that saw the Philadelphia 76ers lean heavy on the draft by intentionally holding bad rosters so they could draft stars. Depending on who you ask, that experiment either worked or was a complete disaster.
While the Thunder haven’t taken things quite as far, it’s clear that their strategy is similar: find success in the draft. The more picks they have, the more likely it is they’ll find a star or a “diamond in the rough.”
Of course, the scouting department will have their work cut out for them.
