OKC Thunder

The last few years have been tough for the OKC Thunder, as they have gone from a playoff contender to a team contending for the top pick in the NBA Draft, but the future is extremely bright for this organization. 

GM Sam Presti and the Thunder’s front-office have done an excellent job assembling young, core pieces through the draft and the job is definitely not done, as Oklahoma City owns the rights to 35 total draft picks through the 2028 NBA Draft. 

The OKC Thunder will use a vast majority of these picks to add more versatile, young, high-level prospects around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, and others, but they will likely trade a handful of these picks as well to build their long-term, sustainable core. 

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, Tre Mann, and Theo Maledon have things locked up in the backcourt and both Luguentz Dort and Aleksej Pokusevski seem like long-term fits on the wing for now, but the Thunder’s main problems lie in their frontcourt, where they have virtually no long-term talent. 

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Darius Bazley has been a key contributor as a combo-forward for the Thunder, but this team really needs to add some young pieces at the power forward and center positions. 

Oklahoma City will look to address these positions in the NBA Draft and they could also address them by pursuing someone like P.J. Washington. 

At 23-years-old, he fits the timeframe for a player the Thunder would like to add and Washington has shown glimpses of his full potential in Charlotte as a big man who can rebound on both ends of the floor and be a shooting threat offensively out on the perimeter. 

The OKC Thunder could use some young “pick-and-pop” players, specifically in their frontcourt, which is why trading someone like Derrick Favors or Mike Muscala and a draft pick to Charlotte for P.J. Washington could make a lot of sense.