Ready for Round Two
Could the Thunder be at an advantage in Round Two of the draft?
Sam Presti looked and sounded tired.
The Thunder general manager was at the end of a long draft night in 2017. Even after the Thunder’s lone selection was made at No. 21 in the first round, the media was kept waiting through the conclusion of the second round.
Because even without a second-round pick, the Thunder was trying its mightiest to get back into the draft. That comes at a price far costlier than a good night’s sleep.
“We looked at all that stuff, had a lot of tough conversations,” Presti said that June 24th night of the NBA Draft. “I thought there were some really good players in the second round that teams were able to get.”
As second-rounders become more valuable, the task of moving up or getting into even the second round is becoming increasingly more difficult. The Thunder and other teams stockpiling second rounders could be at an advantage as next week’s draft approaches.
Said ESPN.com front office insider Bobby Marks in a piece about the free agency of Golden State, one of the league’s luxury-tax-bound squads: “Teams built with $100 million tied into four players must have success with their tax mid-level (exception) and draft picks to have some stability with reserves. The alternative is to depend on one-year minimum players.”
Franchises can call on one-year minimum players if you’re $100-million grouping is playing to its expectations. The Thunder’s nine-figure core of Steven Adams, Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony couldn’t get out of the first round. Add to that the underwhelming year from mid-level exception signing Patrick Patterson, and the Thunder — regardless of round — needs to hit on its draft picks more than ever, be it Terrance Ferguson at No. 21 overall or Dakari Johnson or Daniel Hamilton in the second round.
Eight teams used “cash considerations” to purchase second-round picks from other teams on draft night last summer. The most famous was Chicago drafting Oregon’s Jordan Bell at No. 38 overall, then trading him to Golden State for $3.5 million. That’s the equivalent of a combined two years in salary for the No. 19 overall pick in the first round last year.
Second-round picks are typically signed to minimum-salary deals. Bell reportedly signed a twoyear, minimum-salary deal worth $2.19 million, thus the final price for his two guaranteed seasons comes out to more than $5.6 million when you include the price the Warriors paid to get him on draft night.
It’s the price of business
for acquiring young, relatively inexpensive talent, particularly for teams operating above the projected $123-million luxury tax. The price gets higher the closer the pick gets to the first round.
The Thunder is familiar with trading two secondround picks for a first. Back in 2008, the then-Seattle SuperSonics traded their 32nd and 46th overall picks for the rights to Detroit’s 29th overall selection. That became D.J. White.
The Thunder isn’t in
such an advantageous position now, with two picks — Nos. 53 and 57 — in the bottom half of the second round. But those two picks could come in handy should a team without picks, like Houston, Miami or Toronto, want to buy into the draft. Teams with two first-round picks could be more open to parting with a second-rounder or trading back. Philadelphia is the most asset-rich organization in the 2018 draft with six picks overall, including four of the first 39 selections.
The most likely path to a first-round pick next week is to package a player currently on the Thunder roster with a second-round pick, or future secondrounder. Due to a Collective Bargaining Agreement rule which limits teams from trading first-round picks in consecutive years, the Thunder can not include its 2019 first-round pick in any trade leading up to the draft or the day of the draft. OKC’s first-round picks in 2018 and 2020 were parts of trades to Utah (Enes Kanter) and Philadelphia (Jerami Grant).
So the Thunder has to decide what this draft, what its current roster, and the players at its choosing in Round 2 are worth. The decision could be another all-nighter on June 21.
“I guess the best way to explain it is we try to get every pick,” Presti said. “Every team does. It’s not just us. Everyone’s trying to find ways to get in.
“It’s harder to get in.”