NBA Mock Draft: Oklahoma City Thunder take Jalen Green at #3
Trade! The Minnesota Timberwolves move back. In this deal, they acquire the 5th pick, 19th pick, the Clippers 2022 first-round pick, and Kenrich Williams.
Back in 2018, the Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks made a similar trade that allowed the Mavericks to come up and select Luka Doncic. Since neither Green nor Suggs fits the Timberwolves positionally, they move back to the fifth pick and will presumably get someone that will get rotational minutes right away.
The Timberwolves also get two additional first rounders in the Heat pick later in this draft, as well as giving them a selection next year since their pick will more-than-likely-convey. Darius Miller is also an underrated rotational forward.
In terms of the Thunder, they come up and select a downright electric wing in Jalen Green, who put up (efficient) scoring numbers for the G-League Ignite. Oklahoma City has not been shy about tanking towards the end of the 2021 NBA season. Al Horford isn’t playing, and the team had a dozen-plus game losing streak during the course of April.
Jalen Green will immediately start for the Thunder and has a great chance to become one of the better starting wings in the NBA – simply because of his superior athleticism and scoring upside.
Oklahoma City needs to find a way to hit on a player in this draft, and moving up for Green certainly improves their odds of doing so. Loading up on draft capital is great, but at some point Sam Presti has to realize that you can have too many selections. There are only 15 roster spots, so having 4-5 picks every year is not sustainable. Moving on from some to get a more-quality pick is a great strategy in the NBA.