The Oklahoma City Thunder made one of the biggest splashes of the 2023 NBA draft when they agreed to a move-up trade with the Dallas Mavericks.
The Thunder sent their No. 12 pick and a $17 million trade exception to the Mavericks in exchange for the No. 10 pick — which turned out to be Cason Wallace — and Davis Bertans.
The trade allowed the Thunder to secure their guy in Wallace by essentially buying a two-spot jump. Bertans is potentially owed $33 million over the next two seasons. Meanwhile, the Mavericks used the No. 12 pick to select Dereck Lively II.
Thunder general manager Sam Presti spoke about the decision to make the trade with the Mavericks in the rookie introductory press conference, citing how they always think about trading up:
“Our philosophy has always been, try to get as high as you can, and it’s really hard to do that. We are always thinking about how to pick as high as you can. This was I think an opportunity for us that made sense for both teams in a lot of different ways, and Nico Harris and I have been talking about it for, I don’t know, I’m going to say probably about a week, it really started to become more of a topic. We touched base on it every day. We didn’t know if it would happen or it wouldn’t.
“But the way things shook out it, worked out great for us. We were able to accomplish our goals, which obviously moving up to get Cason, and they were able to accomplish goals for their team.
“It was nothing more than daily communication, check-in, and the way the board goes, that really dictated the ability for them to feel like they can make that deal with us.”
It sounds like both teams got what they wanted from the deal — the Thunder secured Wallace by moving up and the Mavericks shredded salary from their expensive payroll and secured Lively II.
