Fireworks for promised for the NBA Draft last Thursday. Loaded with assets and a wheeler-dealer general manager leading the charge, Thunder fans expected a lot of activity from their team. Instead, the end result was mostly a dud.
All-day, rumors swirled that Oklahoma City was the most active team in trade discussions. Some believed they were willing to offload franchise centerpiece Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for as little as an incremental advance in the draft order. Then, as the names were called in Brooklyn, nothing happened.
The first five picks went just about how most analysts predicted. Oklahoma State’s Cade Cunningham went to Detroit. The Rockets selected G-League product Jalen Green. Cleveland made noise about trading the third pick, but their ridiculous demands were not met, so they took Evan Mobley out of USC. Toronto surprised a few by selecting rumored OKC target Scottie Barnes at four, but then Orlando got things back on track by taking Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs.