The Oklahoma City Thunder are in line to land a valuable lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, and we're not talking about the one they received from the LA Clippers.
Lost in the Los Angeles pick's shadow are the draft rights to the Utah Jazz's upcoming first-rounder, which will be heading Sooner State-bound so long as it lands outside of the top-eight picks.
Though for a while, it was strongly believed that the pick would remain in Utah's possession, as they just finished with the worst record in the entire association in 2024-25 at 17-65, HoopsHype's Michael Scotto revealed in a recent intel dump that the ball club is far from throwing in the towel on trying to be competitive in 2025-26.
In fact, according to the insider, they've "signaled a desire" to build a winning culture with All-Star Lauri Markkanen as their centerpiece.
Thunder have as good a chance as ever to see Jazz pick convey
As things currently stand, the Jazz reside in the 10 seed out in the Western Conference standings at 10-15. If the season were to end today, they would own the 10 pick in the draft, which, as a result, would fall into the hands of the Thunder.
This, along with the Clippers pick, should have the rest of the association panicking.
After all, Oklahoma City is the reigning NBA Champion who's off to the best start in the league with a top-seeded record of 24-2 and boasts the best odds of taking home the Larry O'Brien Trophy again come the conclusion of this season.
Seeing them accomplish all this top-shelf success, and then be rewarded with a potential total of four first-round picks (also own the Philadelphia 76ers' top-four protected rights) would find this Bezos-level rich squad get even richer.
Of course, in Scotto's piece, it was noted that many front offices around the league are still monitoring the Jazz closely during these final months leading into the trade deadline, as Markkanen, in particular, has been the subject of trade rumors for the better part of his four-year tenure with the club and could still be viewed as a splashy add for a title-hungry team elsewhere.
However, based on current suspicions, Utah is looking to hold onto their franchise forward and perhaps even bolster the talent pool around him to make a push for snapping their four-year playoff drought.
That said, considering just how strong the West is, coupled with their slew of injuries to key rotation pieces like Walker Kessler, the odds of their postseason-less streak being snapped in 2026 seem rather low, meaning their lottery pick is highly likely to fall into the Thunder's lap.