Sam Presti, Oklahoma City Thunder. (USA Today)
Do not rule out one of these three teams making a while the 2021 NBA Draft is going on.
It happens every year, so we should expect a few teams to make trades during the NBA Draft.
With Oklahoma State point guard Cade Cunningham almost certainly heading to the Detroit Pistons at No. 1 overall, the draft really begins at No. 2 when the Houston Rockets are on the clock. While Houston may take the best player available at No. 2, expect a handful of teams picking in the lottery portion to swap picks to reposition themselves on the board to get who they want.
Keep an eye on these three NBA teams to make some major draft-day trades later this month.
2021 NBA Draft: 3 teams who should be looking to make a trade during the draft
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Oklahoma City Thunder
West Northwest
The Oklahoma City Thunder have three first-round picks in this year’s NBA Draft
No team will be busier during the draft than the Oklahoma City Thunder. The rebuilding Western Conference team has six picks this year, including three in the first round. They have their own pick at No. 6, the No. 16 pick from the Boston Celtics in the Kemba Walker trade and the No. 18 pick from the LA Clippers in the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander deal. Sam Presti is not done making moves.
The Thunder were among the worst teams in the NBA a season ago. While it has to be crushing to not be in position to draft Cunningham in-state out of Stillwater, Oklahoma City has the ammunition to trade up, or back, anywhere on this draft board. Trading inside of the top five is in play, but so is moving out of the top 10 to acquire even more draft compensation ahead of 2022.
Since six draft selections is an absurd amount, we are not going to see the Thunder take a new player every 10 picks. Therefore, we can almost guarantee that the Thunder will be parting ways with at least two of their six picks for this year. Whether that is to trade up to get a guy or trade back to gain compensation for next year’s draft remains to be seen. They are not done moving.
There may not be a team more active throughout the 2021 NBA Draft’s entirety than the Thunder.