The Oklahoma City Thunder will not be using all six of their draft picks. They have traded pick No. 16 to the Houston Rockets, according to the Athletic’s Shams Charania and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
In exchange, the Thunder receive two future first-round draft picks, according to Wojnarowski.
Oklahoma City is already in control of Houston’s 2024 and 2026 first-round selections, both of which are top-four protected, and have rights to a pick swap in 2025 (top-10 protected)
See all future Thunder draft picks here.
The Houston Rockets used pick No. 16 on Turkish center Alperen Sengun.
In Sengun, the Rockets got a 6-foot-10 center who dominated the Turkish League last season to the tune of 19.2 points on 67.9% shooting from 2-point range, 9.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 28.3 minutes of play.
Oklahoma City chose to make this trade instead of taking a player like Sengun, Keon Johnson, Jalen Johnson, Kai Jones or Usman Garuba. Still holding the 18th pick, however, the Thunder will be able to draft one of them if they so choose, assuming they do not trade that pick first.
The Thunder used their first pick on Josh Giddey and traded their second pick of the night. Currently, they hold picks 18, 34, 36 and 55, thought it would not be surprising if they moved some of those as well.
