The Oklahoma City Thunder have made a trade less than two weeks prior to the 2023 NBA draft.
The Thunder have traded the least favorable of potentially four 2024 first-round picks, the 37th pick in the 2023 NBA draft and a 2024 second-round pick to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for a protected 2029 first-round pick, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Nuggets are trying to maximize their championship window and this deal gives them some additional chances at low-cost contracts and trade tools. For OKC, another first-round pick deep into the future.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 9, 2023
The Thunder could have four first-round picks in next year’s draft — their own, the LA Clippers, a top-four protected Houston Rockets pick and a top-10 protected Utah Jazz pick.
With this trade, the Thunder kicks the can down the road on a first-round pick asset and will no longer face the possibility of having four first-round picks in a single draft class next year.
For the 2023 NBA draft, the Thunder now own only the No. 12 and No. 50 picks.
The 2029 first-round pick could be valuable. Nikola Jokic will be 34 years old by the time that draft class rolls around, so who knows how the Nuggets look by then.
The exact protections on the 2029 first-round pick have not been announced.
