Rylan Stiles dives into the Oklahoma City Thunder making a trade into the top ten to grab Kentucky guard Cason Wallace in a deal that sends Dereck Lively II to the Dallas Mavericks. The OKC Thunder also picked up Davis Bertans, and Keyontae Johnson throughout the night. What did the Thunder accomplish with this trade? How does Lu Dort impact Wallace? Does the Wildcat make Dort expendable? Sam Presti comments on what OKC looked at to decide on selecting Wallace. Was the tenth pick too rich for Cason Wallace? Is Davis Bertans here to stay in Oklahoma City? Can the Bricktown boys make it work with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Cason Wallace, and Lu Dort? Who is hurt by these moves?
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21 Comments
GRADE THE DRAFT FOR THE OKC THUNDER BELOW:
I was hoping to get more size out of this draft! That said in Presti I trust! We have the best GM in sports and I believe he must have seen something special in Cason so I'm excited to see him blossom. Davis is a sniper too…
Absolutely devastated that we didn’t get a big man, are we going to have to sign one when we can’t get over the hump? We neeeeed an elite big to win chips, not another guard 😂😢
A: What more could you expect. Trade up 2 spots and for a threat that can spread the floor. Only to take on a heavy salary which we have plenty of room.
This was an amazing pick
Hello from Spain! #ThunderUp
I don't think there are any minutes for everyone. It's a hard blow for Mann for sure, and potentially for Poku and Lu in my opinion. There are repeated stickers at this point.
Epic rant my brother! Keep telling them. Positionless basketball.
This was a great pick! If we are up by 7pts w/ 3min left we can now put out a closing line up of Chet. JDub. Dort. SGA. Wallace. That is the best Defensive line up in the NBA!
Not a bad pick whatsoever. I still would have preferred Hendricks especially considering how close he fell; but Cason will definitely help round out the bench with defensive consistency and hustle which is not a bad thing at all.
And while I certainly agree that the argument of OKC having too many guards is overblown, and the roster can afford positional flexibility; I don’t think that negates the necessity of finding someone better “positioned” to play the power forward or center spot.
In other words, while yes, Jalen Williams can play undersized center at 6’ 5 why should they have to settle for that when we could draft or sign someone more accustomed to that position? Positional flexibility is good, but doesn’t absolve the team of finding better fits for positions that would greatly benefit from more height and length.
Granted, the roster isn’t close to finished yet, and there’s plenty of time to address that issue; still would’ve been nice to add someone like a Hendricks if it was possible. Which it may or may not have been
That's the point, Giddey, Kenrich will, Jaylin trying to play the 5, we need bodies. We suffer so much in the glass… we can't even stop KAT in play in, the Power Foward of the other team was bigger than anyone and we could not make anything to stop him
Yell at me some more Mr Styles! Lol I likes it 😂
I've never been so proud to be a Thunder fan! Not only are Wallace & KJ great players they are good ppl. Keyontae had 2 off-court issues & neither were his fault. Presti & ownership overlooked it & that was not a given. I assumed the Thunder wouldn't be willing to take a guy like Keyontae. I didnt give them enough credit. Plus Ownership was willing to take on a bad contract to guarantee Sam got his guy. Bravo. Great job by the Thunder all the way around.
I'm definitely a fan of Cason Wallace on the Thunder. 1. Very good shooter, good form, good catch and shoot and thus solid spacing when not on the ball and playing off the likes of Shai and Giddey. 2. Defense is fantastic. Will learn a lot from Dort to refine that side of the ball more and become absolutely elite. 3. He's simply a winning player who makes winning plays and is willing to play within the team construct. 4. He's clearly got the thunder mindset and character which is one of the most important things Presti has always looked for. You must fit into the thunder culture to be picked by OKC. I did have thoughts that potentially with Whitmore falling that we might've picked him up at 10, but with the reports about some issues in terms of attitude I can certainly see why the Thunder may have looked elsewhere (assuming those reports are true). Moreover you are so right about this whole argument about the Thunder having too many guards. We are very much a position less team and almost all our so called 'guards' are all 6'6 and above! I understand that some people wanted more size and so wanted either a PF of C, but as far as I'm concerned I wouldn't bring in size for the sake of size. We have so many assets so if we are going to bring in another big lets make sure its a stud, and not take a swing like I believe someone like Lively would have been. I like Lively, but if he was the best big available on the board, I'd personally rather wait till we can get someone better into the team. Back to Wallace. Short-term I see him coming off the bench playing around that 20mins a game. In the short-term it will put pressure on the likes of Mann to keep his spot on the squad, and so this third season will likely be do or die for him. In the long-term like you said with the mentorship of Lu Dort it may end up putting some flexibility in moving on from Dort if a trade became available because of his moveable contract, but I definitely don't see this as something that will certainly happen because I can see a future with both Dort and Wallace playing together and being two absolute menaces! All in all very happy and super excited to see how it all pans out. Thunder up!
Glad you noticed giddey playing centre heaps.
My concern is having a really tall player outside Chet for when those needs arise.
Hendricks or black were my favourites for OKC but Cason for sure was on that list of fits. Def's is so Lu Dort like that you hope it will help his mentoring and transition/growth in the league
Bad choice at 11 plus bertams contract
Of course Muscla and Saric got mins Chet Jre Poku and Rich was injured. Too many role players couldn’t start on no other team but the Thunder🤦🏿♂️🤦🏿♂️
Would a trade for collins good? Or other big in the free agency
Pd: I love wallace and Johnson, a really good fit, thunder draft people before💪 players.
I have never been more excited for a 50th pick in my life
I'm seeing a young gary Payton stats size and skill level match up well
Taking Coulibaly, Hendricks and Wallace in that order was some organized hating by other teams.