Fresh off of winning the NBA Championship, the Oklahoma City Thunder have an interesting dilemma. With a team obviously in win-now mode, they find themselves with three picks in Wednesday’s [NBA Draft](https://www.sbnation.com/nba-draft) and not a lot of roster spots nor patience to develop those picks.
The logical solution is to combine those picks into a single premium pick. [According to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/2025-nba-draft-thunder-reportedly-look-to-trade-into-top-10-with-two-first-round-picks/), that appears to be exactly what the Thunder are working on. Givony said the following on ESPN’s SportCenter:
> I keep hearing rumblings that the Thunder are trying to move up. They have 15, 24, 44. They could package all three of those picks, look to move up four or five slots, maybe six to Toronto. It’s not clear on their roster that they have any real needs right now so they can afford to take a swing on a high-upside prospect who fits that defensive DNA that won them a championship.
While he didn’t mention the Portland Trail Blazers, four slots up from 15 is indeed where the Blazers are scheduled to pick. At first glance, the thought might be exciting for Blazers fans. The Thunder might well be willing to give somewhat more value than they get back in order to consolidate. At this point though, indicators seem to be pointing to the notion that the Blazers are shifting to win-now mode themselves, albeit on a very different plane than the Thunder. Are the Blazers really interested in collecting a bunch of not-ready-to-contribute picks in this year’s draft, potentially clogging up their own roster spots? Of course, there is nothing ruling out a more complex trade that involves players and/or other teams, but those are more difficult to execute, especially as the draft clock is ticking.
Whether Portland gets involved in any draft-days trades or not, rumors like this one are flying, seeming to indicate that it will be a very eventful draft overall.
The draft “pre-game” starts at 4 p.m. PDT on ESPN, with both ESPN and ABC covering the first round beginning at 5 p.m.