Lottery-Laced: Thunder Hold Draft Stakes In Play-In Tournament

Though the Oklahoma City Thunder landed outside of the playoffs, they still find themselves deep into the playoff mix.

The Oklahoma City Thunder’s season ended on Sunday. But, not all cards have folded.

Through a series of transactions, the Thunder will be living vicariously through the New Orleans Pelicans for the next 48 hours. As for a reason, look no further than a batch of ping-pong balls.

The Oklahoma City Thunder threw a wrench in the 2019 offseason by shipping out Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danillo Gallinari, and a "record-setting” sum of draft picks. Those picks have officially come into play, and the first card flips on Friday.

As one of five first-round picks dealt in the deal, the Thunder own exclusive rights to the Clippers’ 2022 first-round pick along with their own pick and the Phoenix Suns’ pick, which will slot at Pick No. 30.

With Kawhi Leonard and Paul George missing significant time this season, Los Angeles’ pick garnered a lot of luster early, at one point being a more lucrative pick than Oklahoma City’s, which holds the fourth-best odds of the top pick. However, in the closing run of the year, the Clippers' “bench mob” caught fire, swinging themselves to the eight-best seed in the Western Conference. Due to this, Oklahoma City’s shot at two lottery picks was seemingly out the window.

One glued hand and a Patrick Beverley jersey toss later, the Thunder’s lottery aspirations have been resuscitated.

The NBA Play-In series, launched last season, pins the 7th and 8th seed of each conference in a one-game series. The winner faces the 2nd seed in the conference while the other faces the winner of a matchup against the 9th and 10th seed.

In a 113-103 victory Wednesday evening, the Clippers' next match has been set against the ninth-seeded New Orleans Pelicans.

Los Angeles was primed to snag a playoff ticket Wednesday evening against the seventh-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves. However, a 36-24 closing run from the T-Wolves etched a 109-104 victory and the franchise’s second playoff appearance since 2004.

Now, the Clippers remain in action. And they are on the hot seat.

As it stands, the Oklahoma City Thunder are slated to hold Pick No. 15 from Los Angeles. That's under the assumption the Clippers win Friday night. In the case that L.A. dims the lights, their draft positioning would slide to Pick No. 12 – netting Sam Presti some additional artillery.

The odds are slim for Los Angeles’ pick to move into the top 4, only holding a 7.1% shot with a 1.5% cut at the top selection. But, there’s still a chance, and that’s all that the Thunder need.

Last season, the Oklahoma City Thunder were handed a bad break as the Houston Rockets, who sent their Top-4 Protected 2021 first-round pick to the Thunder, ranked dead last in the league. Due to their struggles, the Thunder had a 47.9% chance to nab their pick at five. It did not go their way.

A Clippers loss would give the Thunder camp new life in the hope of notching two top-tier prospects with no assets needing to be shuffled. Additionally, a second lottery pick, even if late in the group, would expand both trade-up options and the player pool by a wide margin.

The Los Angeles Clippers will face the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday at 9 pm CST on TNT.

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