Thunder Land Second Lottery Pick As Clippers Miss Playoffs

Outside of their own pick, the Oklahoma City Thunder also have two additional first-round selections in the 2022 NBA Draft. These two picks were acquired from the Phoenix Suns and LA Clippers in two separate trades.

The Suns’ selection has already been locked in as the final pick in the first round at No. 30 overall after they finished with the best record in the NBA. This pick was acquired in the Chris Paul trade prior to the 2020-21 season.

Since the Suns have been locked into the best record for several weeks now, Oklahoma City has known exactly where this pick will fall. What’s been unclear up to this point has been where that Clippers pick would land.

Although the Clippers finished with the 12th worst record in the NBA this season, that doesn’t simply mean Oklahoma City earns their pick with the 12th highest lottery odds. With the newly implemented play-in tournament, LA had the chance to make the playoffs in the Western Conference, which would ultimately mean that pick would convey outside of the lottery.

With this new wrinkle added to the postseason race, fringe lottery picks have gotten much more complex.

In the first round of the play-in tournament, the Clippers lost a close matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves. From there, they’d get one more chance to make the playoffs in a game against the New Orleans Pelicans. It came down to the wire, but New Orleans came out on top, eliminating the Clippers from the postseason altogether.

As a result, Oklahoma City earned a second lottery pick. The pick conveyed to the Thunder by the Clippers will have the 12th highest lottery odds. While this likely wont happen, it gives OKC yet another small chance (7.2%) at a top-four pick. Either way, the lottery is typically where most NBA stars are found.

The way the lottery odds work at this slot, the pick will either land 1-4 or 12-14.

• 1: 1.5%
• 2: 1.7%
• 3: 1.9%
• 4: 2.1%
• 12: 86.1%
• 13: 6.7%
• 14: 0.1%

Since the lottery reform that began in the 2019 NBA Draft, the team with the 12th highest lottery odds has always landed the No. 12 overall pick. This makes sense, since there’s an 86.1% chance of the pick sticking in that spot.

As the regular season officially comes to a close, the Thunder will have two lottery picks, along with two other selections in the top 34 of the upcoming draft. In a pivotal offseason, Thunder GM Sam Presti has all of the ammunition he needs to continue steering the franchise in the right direction.

The end goal for Oklahoma City is becoming a sustainable contender once again, and adding a second lottery pick for the 2022 NBA Draft is another huge step. The NBA Draft Lottery will take place on June 22 at 7:30 PM CST, when the Thunder ultimately find out where exactly these two lottery picks land.