2026 NBA draft thread

[F Gump]

The Thunder also hold the 12th and 17th picks in a loaded draft, and there have been rumblings for weeks that they want to package them and move up — some have reported Oklahoma City is targeting Duke power forward Cam Boozer. But Boozer projects to go in the top three, which means leaping from 12 to the front of the lottery. A more realistic target might be 7-foot-3 Michigan center Aday Mara. Or maybe they keep one pick and flip the other for a future first to keep the assets coming.


But Presti rarely settles. The Thunder are sitting on a mountain of future picks and approaching a major financial crossroads. Some consolidation is going to be necessary. League sources widely expect the Clippers to listen to trade-down offers for the fifth pick. So maybe there’s a deal to put together with 12, 17, and a player to get there. And then from the fifth pick, can OKC build an overwhelming offer to get up into the top three? Could that deal include a 24-year-old All-NBA player?

Doing a series of moves to get to a certain pick is something that Presti has shown he can and will do, when he wants a player. 

One huge obstacle, however, is that it's not a lock a team in the top 3 would step away from the opportunity to get to draft one of those top 3 guys. The leap from 5 to 3 (or maybe even 2) - and doing it using a player (or players) with a large salary - seems quite iffy. If I'm the other team's GM, I probably going to prefer the guy on the rookie salary, far more than the highly [perhaps over-]paid veteran, as I build from the bottom. We'll see.

And I am intrigued by the idea of Presti having to get the pick from UT and wrestling with Ainge. That would be interesting.