You can find the full article [here](https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/insider/story/_/id/35749299/the-hoop-collective-okc-other-draft-night-mission-plus-future-wilt-storied-record) (I’ll paste some sections in the comments). For those who are paywalled, this is what I found to be the most interesting stuff:
* The Thunder entered draft night with two goals: get Chet Holmgren and get Jalen Williams
* The Thunder had tracked Jalen for months and sent scouts to a lot of Jalen’s games last year at Santa Clara, to the point that it started getting noticed (particularly by Jalen)
* The Thunder became concerned that other teams realized they were targeting Jalen at #12, and they knew the Knicks were looking to trade the #11 pick and had engaged with the Hawks, Grizzlies, and Cavs in trade talks for that pick. The Hawks and Grizzlies were targeting Jalen, and the Cavs were targeting Dieng, who they suspected the Thunder also were interested in.
* There was a bidding war between four teams (those three + OKC) for the #11 pick, which OKC won by offering three future protected firsts
* The Thunder chose to use the #11 pick on Dieng and the #12 pick on Jalen because there was a chance the trade with the Knicks could fall apart after the pick was announced, but there was no chance of anything going wrong with #12. Jalen was the player they wanted to make sure they came out of draft night with.
by butterbeancd
8 Comments
Here’s the actual writing from Windhorst (didn’t want to make the OP too long):
>At the start of the NBA Draft in the June, the Oklahoma City Thunder had two missions:
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>— Get Chet Holmgren
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>— Get Jalen Williams
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>The first one was simpler; Holmgren wasn’t going No. 1 to the Orlando Magic, who had limited their choices to Jabari Smith Jr. and Paolo Banchero. The Thunder, with the No. 2 pick, had zeroed in on Holmgren for weeks.
Then there’s a section talking about the Thunder’s marquee game against the Lakers when LeBron was going for the scoring record, and a section where Windhorst broke down why the Knicks and Hornets were looking to trade their picks at 11 (Knicks), 13 and 15 (both Hornets). After that:
​
>Bottom line: Pick Nos. 11 and 13 were available. At No. 12, using the LA Clippers’ pick they got as part of the 2019 Paul George trade, were the Thunder. It led to a flurry of calls, offers and activity.
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>The Thunder had tracked Williams for months, identifying him as a perfect player for the modern NBA: a two-way wing with long arms, above-average shooting with high leadership and character traits, the son of military parents.
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>He just happened to play at a small school, mid-major Santa Clara, which had one player drafted in the past three decades: Steven Nash in 1996. So it was noticed, especially by Williams, when Thunder scouts kept showing up at his games last season.
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>On draft night, the Thunder were concerned several teams had caught on to their desire to take Williams, who was projected to go later in the draft, and were trying to get up to the Knicks’ pick at No. 11 to beat them to him. The Atlanta Hawks and Memphis Grizzlies, in particular, are specialists at moving around in the draft and identifying players as diamonds in the rough.
>
>But it was the Cleveland Cavaliers, who had heavy interest in French prospect Ousmane Dieng and owned the 14th pick, who were most interested in getting in front of the Thunder and were involved in talks with the Knicks at the same time.
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>The Cavs suspected Oklahoma City also wanted Dieng — and they were right, because when OKC won the bidding war to get the Knicks’ pick by sending three protected future first-rounders, they used it on Dieng.
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>And with the 12th pick, the Thunder took Williams.
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>By using their pick to take Williams instead of the Knicks’ pick one spot earlier, the Thunder assured they would get the Chandler, Arizona native in case the trade with New York somehow fell apart later. It did not, and they landed both Williams and Dieng.
Common Presti W
basically we got our guys
Presti and his team killed it this draft. Part of me just wants presti to always have a shitload of picks so that they can identify players they like and pick them ahead of other teams
Always want presti to have a lot of picks. Seems to get most things right. Hope we continue to have a decent stockpile of picks so we can keep adding players while we are good. Really hope that we win a championship from this. Its still very early days but a documentary on presti and his picks if they win a championship would we very nice
Oh but we definitely promised to take Jabari at #2 riiiiiight 🙄
Always cool to read abit about the draft strategy even if this isn’t super revelatory, thanks for posting.
Makes that whole Jabari promise thing kinda strange, huh. Feels like someone isn’t telling the truth/doesn’t have the fact straight. (Doesn’t really matter at all, just interesting)
It’s worth taking Dieng if it locked in the fact we got Dub.
Chet and Dub were the cake, JWill is the icing and Dieng is the cherry on top