The Thunder’s trade with the Denver Nuggets – consisting solely of draft picks and reported Friday by ESPN – is a good bet for Sam Presti. Here’s the trade:
The Thunder gets Denver’s 2029 first-round pick protected. We don’t yet know the protection. If it’s top four-protected, great for OKC. If it’s top-10 protected, OK. If it’s lottery-protected, eh.
The Nuggets get the last of the Thunder’s four first-round picks – which include OKC’s own, the Clippers’ unprotected, the Rockets’ top-four protected and the Jazz’s top-10 protected. Denver also gets OKC’s second-round pick in 2024 and OKC’s second-round pick in the 2023 draft, which is 37th overall.
Just eye-balling it, the Thunder’s pick figures to be somewhere in the teens, the Clippers’ somewhere in the 20s. The Rockets aren’t likely to finish with one of the worst four records, but you never know. And Utah, could be anywhere. The Jazz played over its head last season. The playoffs seem unlikely, but Utah could be picking anywhere from first to 14th.
Here’s a good way to look at this trade, and why it’s good for both teams.
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The Thunder is likely to send out that Clipper pick. And the Denver pick in 2029 has a better chance of high value than that Clipper pick.
The Nuggets are riding high now, two wins away from the NBA championship. And while Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray figure to keep the Nuggets rolling, by 2029 Jokic will be 34 and Murray 32.
It depends on the protections, but chances seem likely that it will be a better pick than wherever the Clippers land next season.
The Thunder needed to move some draft picks. They had a logjam next season, with the four first-rounders. With a such a young and fairly-deep roster, four first-round picks is a curse, not a blessing. Moving one first-rounder down the road is a good move.
Same with that second-rounder this season. The Thunder has the No. 12 pick in the 2023 draft. Even a high second-round pick would only add to the logjam, as the Thunder tries to sort out its collection of young talent, finding out who has a long-term NBA future and who might not.
Denver is in the opposite situation. The Nuggets are a thin team with lots of veterans, many of them not playing. The Ish Smith/DeAndre Jordan/Reggie Jackson crowd.
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The Nuggets need to find some young talent that can alleviate pressure on the payroll cap, and a high second-round pick this year and a first-round pick next season can do just that.
“Imagine if they had extra assets right now to add to their team while it gets more expensive or when they make mistakes along the way,” an NBA source said of the Nuggets. “Now they have to trade their future tools to get the extra tools needed to handle the payroll pressure.”
The new collective bargaining agreement will further fiscally punish teams that are into the luxury tax. This is how teams will manage expensive teams under the new system, with draft picks to layer the roster with low costs below the big salaries.
The Nuggets, like the Thunder, have had success drafting beyond the lottery.
In the Denver rotation are Jokic (41st overall in 2014), Michael Porter Jr. (14th overall in 2018) and Christian Braun (21st overall in 2022).
So it’s a good trade for both teams. The Nuggets need young talent soon. The Thunder, with only two players on the roster born before 1998, figures to need young talent later.
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Big Ten gives USC & Lincoln Riley a rugged 2024 schedule
The 2024 Big Ten football schedule did Lincoln Riley no favors.
Riley, about to begin his second season as the Southern Cal football coach, learned this week who will comprise the Trojans’ 2024 schedule, their first season in the Big Ten.
And it’s a gauntlet. USC already was scheduled to play Notre Dame and Louisiana State (the latter in Las Vegas) in non-conference. And the Big Ten gave the Trojans home games against Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin, plus road games at UCLA and Penn State.
The rest of the USC schedule: San Jose State and Illinois at home; Maryland, Northwestern and Purdue on the road.
That’s a stout schedule.
The Big Ten’s scheduling model is quite convoluted. Eleven matchups have been declared annual, and the number isn’t equal for each Big Ten member. For instance, Iowa has three annual opponents. Penn State has none.
The conference calls the model “Flex Protect Plus.” It includes a nine-game conference schedule and guarantees that every possible conference matchup will be played twice within a four-year span. The league will be played without divisions; the top two teams in the conference standings will advance to the Big Ten Championship Game.
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The reason for the messy format is clear: No legacy Big Ten member wanted USC or UCLA as an annual rival, due to the oppressive travel requirement.
Here are the 11 protected rivalries, which will be played every season:
Michigan-Ohio State: no duh.
UCLA-USC: One oasis in a schedule littered with long-distance travel.
Minnesota-Wisconsin: One of the nation’s longest-played rivalries.
Indiana-Purdue: In-state rivalry played for the Old Oaken Bucket.
Michigan State-Michigan: Sort of a northern Bedlam. State’s arch-rival is Michigan. Michigan’s arch-rival is Ohio State.
Iowa-Minnesota: They play for the Floyd of Rosedale Trophy. Not as cool as the Old Oaken Bucket or the Little Brown Jug of Michigan-Minnesota fame, though divisions ended the annual nature of Michigan-Minnesota and it wasn’t protected in the new format.
Illinois-Northwestern: Perhaps the nation’s least-intense in-state rivary.
Nebraska-Iowa: A Thanksgiving Friday staple that never has captured the magic of OU-Nebraska.
Maryland-Rutgers: The only two schools on the Eastern Seaboard.
Iowa-Wisconsin: About as old as Minnesota-Wisconsin.
Illinois-Purdue: Who knew that the Illini and the Boilermakers are rivals?
It’s a complicated format. We’ll see if it stands the test of time.
The Atlantic Coast Conference went to divisions not based on geography, and that remained until this season, though most of America had a devil of a time remembering who’s in the Atlantic Division and who’s in the Coastal.
The Big Ten divided teams based not on geography, called Legends and Leaders, and the Big Ten soon scrapped those haughty distinctions and went to geography. The East and West served the conference quite well.
With OU and Texas headed to the Southeastern Conference, the SEC eventually will adopt a regulated schedule. A nine-gamer, with every school having three permament opponents and the rest alternating six at a time, or an eight-gamer, with every school having one permanent opponent and the rest alternating seven at a time.
The Big Ten’s model is much more jumbled.
But this we know. USC has a rough road in 2024.
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2028 Olympic canoeing coming to OKC?
A piece of the 2028 Olympics could be coming to Oklahoma City.
Seriously.
Los Angeles is scheduled to host the ‘28 Olympics, but the International Canoe Federation says its slalom competition could be moved out of southern California.
And the only viable American alternatives are in Oklahoma City and Charlotte, North Carolina.
OKC’s Riversport Rapids on the downtown Oklahoma River is scheduled to host the 2026 International Canoe Association’s world championships in canoe slalom. The OKC National High Performance Center is an official U.S. Olympic and Paralympic training site for the best Americans in rowing, kayak and canoeing, providing facilities, coaching and financial support.
Thesportsexaminer.com reported that an ICF committee member said the canoe slalom could be moved out of California and that Los Angeles organizers are “currently working on an existing ‘offset venue’ option, Oklahoma.”
Mike Knopp, executive director of OKC’s Riversport, declined comment, deferring to the Los Angeles organizing committee.
“I can tell you, we’re very focused on bringing and attracting major competition to Oklahoma City, and this has been a long build for the last 10 years,” Knopp said.
Knopp said those 2026 world championships will include 60 nations that will be in Oklahoma City basically a month. OKC also will host a World Cup and a major rowing event next year.
So the city has been aggressive.
Riversport Rapids hosted the ICF Canoe Sprint Super Cup in 2021 and 2022. Riversport Rapids and all the water-sport activities on the river were built as part of the 2009 MAPS 3 vote.
The canoe slalom, which previously was known as whitewater slalom, could include as many as six Olympic events.
Thesportsexaminer.com reported that Los Angeles’ original bid included a temporary facility in the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area. The 1984 Los Angeles Olympics used Lake Casitas in Ventura County, north of LA, for canoeing and rowing.
Much still could happen. The International Olympic Committee must approve venue changes outside the designated host areas. But LA needs an option for the Olympic canoe whitewater competition. Oklahoma City is an option.
The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics are scheduled for July 14-30, followed by the Paralympics August 15-27.
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Mailbag: Don Porter & the WCWS
The resounding success of the Women’s College World Series has some Oklahomans itching to give credit where credit is due.
John: “Without Don Porter, would there have been a College World Series in OKC?”
Tramel: In a word, yes.
Porter was the iconic executive director of the Amateur Softball Association and in many ways the godfather of American softball. The driving force behind softball becoming an Olympic sport.
But he was not the driving force behind Oklahoma City getting and retaining the Women’s College World Series. That would be Stanley Draper Jr.
Draper, the long-time executive director of the All Sports Association, died in 2006 at age 83. But he was a tireless advocate for Oklahoma City and worker for the All Sports Association, which teamed with the Amateur Softball Association and OU to host the World Series for decades.
“What’s needed today in a lot of places is the cloning of some Stanley Draper Juniors, whose attitude would be ‘never give up,’” Porter wrote about Draper, upon Draper’s death. “He certainly did that for softball.”
Porter, who died in 2020 at age 90, was the long-time president of the International Softball Federation and executive director of the ASA.
In the mid-1960s, Draper persuaded the ASA to move its headquarters to Oklahoma City from Newark, New Jersey. By 1987, the ASA had constructed a beautiful stadium that seated 2,046 and was considered the world’s best softball venue.
Armed with that stadium, Draper led the bid for the WCWS. It came, it stayed (except a one-year excursion to Columbus, Georgia, to promote the 1996 Olympics), it prospered.
Porter did a lot for softball. Draper did a lot for Oklahoma City.
The List: Undrafted NBA players
Miami’s run to the NBA Finals with a batch of undrafted players – Caleb Martin, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Duncan Robinson, Haywood Highsmith – has been quite impressive.
Here’s a list of the NBA’s top 10 undrafted players in the 2022-23 season:
1. Fred Van Vleet: The Raptor point guard had an off-year by his standards but remains a star-caliber player, averaging 19.3 points and 7.2 assists this season.
2. Luguentz Dort: The Thunder fire hydrant is a defensive dynamo and an occasional big scorer, albeit a mediocre shooter.
3. Alex Caruso: A defensive dynamo for the Bulls, the Lakers missed him terribly.
4. Austin Reaves: A post-season star, Reaves averaged 16.9 points a game in the Lakers’ playoff run, after averaging 13.0 in the regular season.
5. Christian Wood: A productive scorer (16.6) and rebounder (7.3) for the Mavericks, Wood stays in the doghouse due to dismal defense.
6. Chris Boucher: Excellent defender the Raptors and an occasional scorer, who averaged 9.4 points and 5.5 rebounds as a versatile big man.
7. Naz Reid: Excellent backup center for the Timberwolves, in need of a fresh start where he can play more.
8. T.J. McConnell: Ultimate sparkplug in Indiana.
9. Caleb Martin: Playoff hero who keyed Miami to an upset of Boston in the Eastern Conference finals.
10. Jose Alvarado: Ultimate sparkplug in New Orleans.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at [email protected]. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Thunder-Nuggets trade of NBA Draft picks makes sense for both teams
