While not as busy as previous years, the Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t let an NBA championship parade distract them from their draft work. The schedule-makers put one over the title winner one last time as they celebrated with fans on Tuesday and went to the war room on Wednesday and Thursday for the 2025 NBA draft.

The Thunder entered the 2025 NBA draft with three draft picks at No. 15 (via Heat), No. 24 (via Clippers) and No. 44 (via Hawks). They came away with two selections of Thomas Sorber and Brooks Barnhizer. They dealt away the No. 24 pick.

Let’s break down OKC’s sole NBA draft trade. They sent the No. 24 pick to the Sacramento Kings for a 2027 top-16 first-round pick (via Spurs). The 24th selection was Colorado State’s Nique Clifford. He wore the Thunder hat, but he will suit up for Sacramento.

Considering the Thunder have their entire roster under contract for next season, they couldn’t afford to bring in a populated draft class. Instead, Sorber will kick somebody off the roster and Barnhizer will likely occupy a two-way spot.

That meant the Thunder needed to find a way to get rid of the No. 24 pick. It’s part of the worst range of the draft. As plenty of players could be graded as second-round talent, but a first-round contract is a longer and richer commitment.

Instead, the Thunder went with kicking the can down the road. They’ve used that strategy over the years. But they usually do so with leverage over the trade partner. Ask the Denver Nuggets. This time, though, the Kings didn’t budge and give OKC a low-upside future pick.

Considering the Spurs should be a contender in 2027 solely because of Victor Wembanyama, the Thunder will likely see the first-round pick finish outside of the top 16 and be forked over to them. There’s a decent chance it finishes between the 17-24 range, but it’s difficult to get too excited about that range of players.

The Thunder’s roster crunch finally came back to bite them. But a doomsday scenario for them is getting a pick down the road that is roughly the equivalent of what they gave up. Rich-person problems. The average NBA champion would kill for some future draft picks in their pockets to avoid a ridiculous payroll.

For the Thunder, that’s their reality. Nobody is best set up to sustain a long-term title window. While their payroll will soon be mostly Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, the rest of the roster can be filled out with young and cheap players rotated throughout the years. This otherwise mundane draft trade is another step toward that.