OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA – APRIL 6: Overhead scoreboard prior to the game between the Oklahoma City … More
Exactly one week remains in the NBA regular season of the 2024-25 campaign, and final standings are still fluid in both conferences. While some teams are hoping for a strong close to the season in an attempt to climb the standings, others are quietly hoping to remain near the bottom of the standings to maintain better draft lottery positioning.
While the lottery order for the 2025 NBA Draft won’t be determined until May 12, the remainder of the first-round picks will be finalized by the end of the NBA Play-In Tournament on April 18.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have already locked down the top Western Conference playoff seed, but the draft is still something the franchise is looking ahead to. Oklahoma City entered the season with the potential of having four selections in the 2025 NBA Draft, but now it is only guaranteed to have one. From there, two more could convey, but three is the maximum number of picks the Thunder could have without making more trades.
The pick that Oklahoma City owns via the Utah Jazz is top-10 protected and will not convey, given that their selection cannot fall that far. Utah has the worst record in the NBA, and even if the Jazz win every game the rest of the way, their pick will still be guaranteed to fall in that top-10 range. Instead, the Thunder will own Utah’s first-round pick the following season with top-eight protections.
The guaranteed pick to convey is the swap that OKC owns, with the ability to choose to take the selection of the LA Clippers or Houston Rockets for its own. Given how the season has gone for the three squads embedded in this three-team situation, it will be LA’s pick for which the Thunder will swap. That Clippers pick will likely fall somewhere between No. 19 and No. 25 overall. With just a few games left for every team this season, the variance in final standings outcomes is decreasing, so that range is locked in.
Again, Oklahoma City has one guaranteed pick with the Clippers swap and one that will not convey with the Jazz pick.
The two still to be determined include a Miami Heat pick (lottery-protected) and a Philadelphia 76ers selection (top-six protected). If the season ended today, the Heat would keep their pick — barring a successful Play-In Tournament — and the Sixers would have the fifth-best lottery odds. As such, it will take some luck for OKC to land either of these selections. Philadelphia would need bad lottery luck, which would give Oklahoma City a pick just outside the top six. Miami would have to win two games in the Play-In Tournament and earn the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, which would give the Thunder another pick just outside the lottery.
OKC will get Miami’s unprotected first rounder in the 2026 NBA Draft if the Heat pick doesn’t convey. As for the Philadelphia selection, it will defer to a top-four protected first-round pick for the Thunder if it doesn’t convey this summer.
The Heat pick situation will be determined when the Play-In Tournament ends in a few weeks. But the Sixers’ pick conveyance won’t be known until May’s draft lottery. Regardless, the Oklahoma City Thunder have a great chance to be in a great position in the 2025 NBA Draft following what could be a deep playoff push.
