Every road leads back to Oklahoma City — in the NBA Draft, at least.
The Miami Heat defeated the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference 9 vs. 10 play-in on Wednesday (the one we all watched, right?) and all that game did was bring the NBA one step closer to adding another franchise player to a Thunder team that won 68 games this year. Oklahoma City owns Miami's pick this year, but it's top 14 protected. If that pick doesn't convey, the Thunder get Miami's pick next year... unprotected.
An unprotected 2026 first-round pick to OKC could change everything
If the Miami Heat make the playoffs this year, their pick goes to the Oklahoma City Thunder. In a good draft, OKC could surely find a good player with the No. 15 pick, which is almost surely what that selection would be — but it most likely wouldn't be league-altering.
But if Miami doesn't make the playoffs this year, that pick becomes unprotected in 2026, meaning the Thunder get the pick no matter what. And in a year that will have tons of questions for the Heat, an unprotected pick would be a gargantuan asset.
Basically, the future of the league is in the hands of Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks. You guys have to lose this game. I'm sorry.
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The 2026 NBA Draft features multiple cornerstone players
The Heat will be close to rebuild status in 2025-26, meaning that pick could very well land in the top four of the 2026 Draft. In that case, the Oklahoma City Thunder — which have the best young core in the NBA and just finished one of the most dominant regular seasons in NBA history — could feasibly land a franchise player like Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa or Cameron Boozer, who are the projected top three picks in next year's draft.
He (Sam Presti) can't keep getting away with this!