Inside The Thunder

NBA Mock Draft: OKC Thunder Add High-Profile International Prospect

Oklahoma City has not been hesitant to draft international players in previous drafts, and was tabbed as a team that could add another French prospect his year.

Randall Sweet

Feb 15, 2025 Caen, FRANCE; St Quentin point guard Nolan Traore with coach Julien Mahe against Le Mans in a Leaders Cup match.
Feb 15, 2025 Caen, FRANCE; St Quentin point guard Nolan Traore with coach Julien Mahe against Le Mans in a Leaders Cup match. / Presse Sports via Imagn Images
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The Oklahoma City Thunder have just five games left in what has been a historic regular season.

OKC has already reached 64 wins and tied multiple NBA records and could end the year with one of the best records of all time. With the playoffs looming, Oklahoma City is looking to make a deep run in the postseason to go along with a remarkable regular season performance.

The team has one of the deepest rosters in the NBA, armed with a number of versatile defenders, a few All-Star level players and the 2025 MVP frontrunner. Yet, despite having built a strong roster, a recent loss to the Houston Rockets has put a few of the team's weaknesses on display.

Of course, a regular season game in April is certainly no reason to raise alarm or doubt what the Thunder have accomplished this season, it did show the Thunder's lack of consistent scoring off the bench.

Aaron Wiggins scored eight points, but no other player from the Thunder's second unit scored more than three points in a 125-111 loss to Houston.

In a recent mock draft from Julia Stumbaugh at Bleacher Report, Oklahoma City added a player who may be able to address some of these concerns.

With the No. 19 overall selection in Stumbaugh's mock draft, the Thunder selected Nolan Traore, a point guard from France.

Listed at 6-foot-4, Traore turns 19-years-old in late May and was originally thought to be one of the 2025 draft class's premier prospects. While his season playing for Saint Quentin hasn't gone as expected, Traore still has enough upside to be a top 20 selection in this summer's draft.

In the 2024 NBA Draft, Sam Presti and the Thunder took an upside swing on another player who was originally thought to be one of the top players in the cycle in Nikola Topic. Topic, however, fell due to a torn ACL suffered prior to the draft.

In 23 games with Saint Quentin in France's professional basketball league this season, Traore is averaging 10.7 points, 4.9 assists and 1.7 rebounds per game while shooting 37.6% from the field and 25.8% from beyond the arc.

In a scouting report written by Draft Digest in September, the website's staff said, "Rather than leaning on elite athleticism or positional size, Traore operates with craft, quickness and skill. He is creative and boasts good touch at all three levels, making him a versatile offensive talent. Furthermore, he’s a good passer who can set his teammates up when he’s not scoring on his own. His body control is impressive and he knows how to work the angles on the offensive end."

A good passer who wins with skill and basketball IQ sounds very similar to multiple players Presti and the Thunder's front office have prioritized in recent draft cycles.

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Randall Sweet
RANDALL SWEET

Randall Sweet is a 2022 Oklahoma University graduate who has formerly written for the Norman Transcript and OU Daily. Randall also serves as the Communications Coordinator at Visit OKC.

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