OKC Thunder receives second, 12th picks in 2022 NBA Draft Lottery
The Oklahoma City Thunder received a dose of extraordinary luck Tuesday night by landing the No. 2 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
Oklahoma City will pick second behind Orlando, which won the lottery. Houston, Sacramento and Detroit rounded out the top-five slots.
The Thunder will also pick 12th, via a traded pick from the Clippers.
The combination of receiving picks No. 2 and 12 was the third-most likely scenario for the Thunder in the lottery. It had about an 11.5% chance of happening. The Thunder (24-58) entered the night with the fourth-best odds of landing the No. 1 pick.
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“Obviously for a good majority of teams, luck in the lottery is a pretty big indicator of future success,” Thunder general manager Sam Presti said.
Presti, who held a media availability Tuesday afternoon before the lottery, said the NBA is more like poker than chess given the luck factor.
In chess, “everybody starts from the same place,” Presti said, while in poker “you get a random hand and you have to play the hand that you’re given.”
OKC Thunder happy with No. 2 NBA Draft pick
Presti and the Thunder will gladly take their newly-dealt hand.
The No. 2 pick is a sweet spot in a draft with three perceived standout prospects: Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren, Auburn’s Jabari Smith and Duke’s Paolo Banchero — all versatile big men who fit the new-age NBA.
“One thing for us is our rating systems and our rankings are never consensus-oriented,” Presti said when asked about Holmgren, Smith and Banchero. “What we think and how we have players grouped or rated, I would actually be disappointed if it was consensus-oriented because I want us to have a very independent thought on how we look at the players.
“The other thing is those ratings, we don't really even finalize those until a little bit before the draft, to be honest with you. They're always changing.”
Presti was optimistic when he met with the media over Zoom at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“As Hemingway said, ‘No horse named Morbid ever won a race.’ So I'm excited, I'm optimistic, I'm looking forward to it,” Presti said. “I don't see any reason not to.”
“I'm most excited about just learning where we're going to pick,” Presti added.
The Thunder is well-positioned to add another building-block player alongside star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey, who showed promising playmaking skills in his rookie season.
Presti has a decent track record with the No. 2 pick. In 2007, that’s where Presti and the then-Seattle SuperSonics selected Kevin Durant. The Trail Blazers infamously selected Ohio State center Greg Oden with the No. 1 pick that year.
Since relocating to Oklahoma City, the franchise has never selected higher than No. 3, where it took James Harden in 2009.
Thunder legend Nick Collison, a longtime teammate of Harden’s and Durant’s, was the Thunder’s on-stage representative at the lottery in Chicago. He brought better luck than Nazr Mohammed, the Thunder’s representative last year when OKC fell to No. 6.
Presti joked before the lottery that Collison was chosen because he “guaranteed a successful evening.”
“It only cost me a statue,” Presti said. “So I said, that's fine. But the statue will not be of you playing, it will be of you holding up a (lottery) card that says that.”
Collison didn’t bring home the No. 1 pick, but it was a victorious night for the Thunder nonetheless.
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2022 NBA Draft order
First round
1. Orlando
2. Oklahoma City
3. Houston
4. Sacramento
5. Detroit
6. Indiana
7. Portland
8. Los Angeles Lakers (to New Orleans)
9. San Antonio
10. Washington
11. New York
12. LA Clippers (to Oklahoma City)
13. Charlotte
14. Cleveland
15. New Orleans (to Charlotte)
16. Atlanta
17. Brooklyn (to Houston)
18. Chicago
19. Minnesota
20. Toronto (to San Antonio)
21. Denver
22. Utah (to Memphis)
23. Philadelphia^^
24. Milwaukee
25. Boston (to San Antonio)
26. Dallas
27. Miami
28. Golden State
29. Memphis
30. Phoenix (to Oklahoma City)
^^ This pick may be conveyed to Brooklyn
Second round
31. Houston (to Indiana via Cleveland)
32. Orlando
33. Detroit (to Toronto via San Antonio, Washington and Chicago)
34. Oklahoma City
35. Indiana (to Orlando via Milwaukee)
36. Portland
37. Sacramento
38. Los Angeles Lakers (to San Antonio via Chicago and Washington)
39. San Antonio (to Cleveland via Utah)
40. Washington (to Minnesota via Cleveland)
41. New Orleans
42. New York
43. LA Clippers
44. Atlanta
45. Charlotte
46. Brooklyn (to Detroit)
47. Cleveland**
48. Minnesota
49. Chicago (to Sacramento via Memphis and Detroit)
50. Denver (to Minnesota via Philadelphia)
51. Toronto (to Golden State via Philadelphia)
52. Utah (to New Orleans)
53. Boston
— Milwaukee (forfeited)
— Philadelphia (to Miami via Denver; forfeited by Miami)
54. Dallas (to Washington)
55. Golden State
56. Miami (to Cleveland via Indiana)
57. Memphis (to Portland via Utah)
58. Phoenix (to Indiana)
** This pick will be conveyed either to New Orleans via Atlanta, or to Memphis via New Orleans and Atlanta
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder draft picks: Here's where team landed after NBA Lottery
