The Oklahoma City Thunder Are Trying to Collect All the Draft Picks

The Oklahoma Thunder have reportedly traded George Hill to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for second-round picks in 2025 and 2026 as the franchise leans into the future and hopes an ungodly amount of bites at the apple over the next few years brings satisfaction. As a result of the deal, the Thunder now have no fewer than 34 projected picks over the next seven drafts — an eyebrow-raising anomaly pointed out by ESPN's Bobby Marks.

Now, there is such a thing as too many picks. In fact, it shouldn't be long until some NBA meme-maker makes a Too Many Cooks parody with Sam Presti digitally inserted into every scene. But as far as problems go, there are worse ones. And while it's a bit unclear what the ultimate plan is, one figures it likely involves something more ambitious than building around Lu Dort and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, as nice as those players may be individually.

The Thunder, through careful collection, can now choose their own timeline. Do they want to shoot for contention in four years or two? Do they want to try to assemble a bunch of diaper dandies through the draft and become the fearless young guns or do they wish to sell those chips to the highest bidder for safer options?

How does one even begin to chart out the way forward when it can go in so many directions? Paralysis by analysis is a real thing and sometimes having many paths makes it harder to make a decision. Whichever one Oklahoma City chooses will be deemed the best of many.

There's great opportunity, but also great pressure. Perhaps they keep dealing the current roster for future picks to see if they can set an unbeatable record. It might not be helpful, but it'd be funny.