The Thunder were a game away from returning to the NBA Finals, but a week after their Game 7 WCF loss, they find themselves already focusing on next season.
With the NBA Draft ahead and the Thunder holding a plethora of picks this year and in the following years, they have many key decisions to make before the draft takes place in a few weeks.
Sam Presti reveals Thunder's NBA Draft game plan for their three picks
The Thunder own the following picks in the 2026 NBA Draft:
The Thunder's roster is already filled with depth, so there's not a lot of roster space to add players without letting go/trading players taking up a roster spot.
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According to Thunder beat reporter Justin Martinez, "OKC will explore all options with its three picks (No. 12, 17 and 37), from trading up to trading down to trading for future picks."
There are many different directions the Thunder can go here. If they want to shake up the roster quite a bit, they can use their assets to get a superstar like Giannis Antetokounmpo, as they are one of the few teams with enough picks and players to get it done if they choose to.
Another option is to package their picks in this draft, and potentially other future picks, to trade up and draft a player in the top-10.
It wouldn't be wise to see the Thunder draft players with all three picks that they currently own, so they could make some smaller trades to basically exchange their pick/s from this year for ones in the future, that they can make decisions on down the line.
The Spurs showed the Thunder this postseason that they're the team they'll likely have to get past in each postseason going forward, so it wouldn't be surprising to see a significant move made by OKC to keep pace with a young San Antonio team; however, there aren't definitive signs of that happening yet.
Whatever they end up doing will happen in the coming weeks ahead of the draft, so expect some activity from OKC, whether it's minor or major, to come before the end of June.
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