After a 13-year drought, the Oklahoma City Thunder have punched their ticket to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012 after beating the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games.
OKC’s return to the championship round comes with a completely new variation of the team. Through the departures of stars like Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Chris Paul, general manager Sam Presti acquired a mind-boggling amount of draft picks to go along with talented players like Danilo Gallinari and, of course, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Even with those assets, though, the Thunder only landed one pick in the top five of the NBA Draft, which allowed the team to select Chet Holmgren with the No. 2 overall pick in 2022.
After reaching the postseason in 2019-20, OKC went 22-50 and 24-58 before returning to the postseason. The Thunder’s 2021 tanking efforts only awarded the team the No. 6 overall pick, which Presti and company used to select Josh Giddey.
While Giddey himself hasn’t contributed to the Thunder reaching the NBA Finals this season, the Australian guard was valuable enough to return Alex Caruso in a trade with the Chicago Bulls. Following Giddey being benched by Mark Daigneault in last year’s playoffs, Caruso has been instrumental in OKC’s playoff run this time around.
The team’s second All-Star alongside Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, was selected with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2022 draft after rising through the pre-draft process following a strong campaign at Santa Clara.
Oklahoma City’s success without repeatedly picking at the top of the draft shows that franchises can be successful without winning the lottery if their front office is saavy on the trade market, the draft and free agency.
This year, teams like the Washington Wizards and Utah Jazz, who didn’t get top-four picks despite disappointing seasons, can hold out hope that their team can still land an impactful player or an important trade piece in their current spots.
While not even team will be able to build a 68-win team with an MVP leading the way, the Thunder’s process shows that it is possible for small-market teams can win without having the top pick.
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