2025 Draft Night Picks Discussion

[MrMiyagi]

Funny how our draft record has been fairly good, but we give away all of our draft capital...

[Calvin Klein]

Funny how our draft record has been fairly good, but we give away all of our draft capital...

Has it been fairly good though??

[sunsfan1o1]

On another note, it's absolutely amazing what Presti has done. Not only are they the 2nd youngest team to win a title, but they were missing their rookie lottery pick, Nikola Topic this year, so next year they have Sorber, nearly a lottery pick at 15, and last year's 12th pick in Topic, starting. Then the next 2 years they have their own firsts plus all these coming from other teams...(and more coming from other teams the years after that)...

Other than getting lucky to win the championship since you can’t touch SGA it’s actually bad asset management. He’s hoarding and they can’t afford to keep all these guys and by not trading these picks for consolidation he’s lowering their value.

[MrMiyagi]

Funny how our draft record has been fairly good, but we give away all of our draft capital...

Has it been fairly good though??

I'd say so. Camara, Dunn, and Oso have been nice for where they went. We'll see with Maluach, Fleming, and Brea.

[thamadkant]

On another note, it's absolutely amazing what Presti has done. Not only are they the 2nd youngest team to win a title, but they were missing their rookie lottery pick, Nikola Topic this year, so next year they have Sorber, nearly a lottery pick at 15, and last year's 12th pick in Topic, starting. Then the next 2 years they have their own firsts plus all these coming from other teams...(and more coming from other teams the years after that)...

Other than getting lucky to win the championship since you can’t touch SGA it’s actually bad asset management. He’s hoarding and they can’t afford to keep all these guys and by not trading these picks for consolidation he’s lowering their value.

NBA first round picks are like premium land... they never lose value.

[Qwigglez]

IDK guys im pretty excited about what the FO has done with trades/draft. We are now a young team with some great potential with our younger guys. I am actually excited to watch basketball now, last years team was a buzzkill, I maybe watched 2-3 games, couldn't stomach it. We got younger and got some size. I am not epexcting a deep playoff push but I am excited to watch the youth.

I was prepared to retire as a mod, disown the franchise, and jump over the Blazers bandwagon. I am a hopeful Suns fan once again. I am not expecting many more moves other than salary cap relief for probably a few 2nd round picks, but I am excited to see what this group of young players are able to do.

[Qwigglez]

On another note, it's absolutely amazing what Presti has done. Not only are they the 2nd youngest team to win a title, but they were missing their rookie lottery pick, Nikola Topic this year, so next year they have Sorber, nearly a lottery pick at 15, and last year's 12th pick in Topic, starting. Then the next 2 years they have their own firsts plus all these coming from other teams...(and more coming from other teams the years after that)...

Speaking of the Thunder, does anyone have any more clarification about the rumor of OKC wanting to get into the top 10 of this year's draft? I really think they were targeting Maluach.

[RedIndian]

From an asset replenishment standpoint, Gregory did a pretty good job.

Williams, Maluach, Fleming, Oso, Dunn, Brea, Gillespie is a nice group of players in their early 20s with plenty of room to grow. Not sure of the ceiling on these guys, but all are pretty toolsy (and high character), and those sort of players typically stick around in the league, even if they don't grow into stars.

From a short-term perspective, very unsure how this team comes together. 29 year old Booker and a 23 year old Jalen Green (a very flawed player), are now the chief playmakers on this team - that's not really a recipe for any success.

If the idea was to quickly build a semi-contender around Booker, needed to pair him with either a quality PG or a quality 4/5 who can shoot and pass (basically a Sabonis or Markannen type at the very least).

Given the state of the roster, I don't forecast more than 30-35 wins. That's rough when we don't have our own picks till 2032.

[lilfishi22]

Funny how our draft record has been fairly good, but we give away all of our draft capital...

Yeah I like the guys we got but I do question the value we gave up to get it done now that the chaos and adrenaline from draft day has come down and I've had time to re-evaluate....

Trades
2025 #29 (To Charlotte - Mark Williams)
2029 FRP (To Charlotte - Mark Williams)
2025 #52 (To GSW for #41 - Brea)
2025 #59 (To GSW for #41 - Brea)
2x Future SRP (To Brooklyn for #36)
2025 #36 (To Minny for #31 - Fleming)
2x Future SRP (To Minny for #31 - Fleming)


Total Given Up:
2025 #29 (1st round)
2025 #52 (2nd round)
2025 #59 (2nd round)
2025 #36 (via Brooklyn)
Future Picks:
2029 First-Round Pick
4 Future Second-Round Picks


In return, we got:
Mark Williams
#31 (Fleming)
#41 (Brea)

It is a fair bit for 2 unproven 2nd round prospects and an oft injured big man. I think moving #52 and #59 to get #41 is totally fine. To move essentially 4 future 2nd round picks to get move up 5 spots (36 to 31), for Fleming who was there at #29 is tough

[MrMiyagi]

Funny how our draft record has been fairly good, but we give away all of our draft capital...

Yeah I like the guys we got but I do question the value we gave up to get it done now that the chaos and adrenaline from draft day has come down and I've had time to re-evaluate....

Trades
2025 #29 (To Charlotte - Mark Williams)
2029 FRP (To Charlotte - Mark Williams)
2025 #52 (To GSW for #41 - Brea)
2025 #59 (To GSW for #41 - Brea)
2x Future SRP (To Brooklyn for #36)
2025 #36 (To Minny for #31 - Fleming)
2x Future SRP (To Minny for #31 - Fleming)


Total Given Up:
2025 #29 (1st round)
2025 #52 (2nd round)
2025 #59 (2nd round)
2025 #36 (via Brooklyn)
Future Picks:
2029 First-Round Pick
4 Future Second-Round Picks


In return, we got:
Mark Williams
#31 (Fleming)
#41 (Brea)

It is a fair bit for 2 unproven 2nd round prospects and an oft injured big man. I think moving #52 and #59 to get #41 is totally fine. To move essentially 4 future 2nd round picks to get move up 5 spots (36 to 31), for Fleming who was there at #29 is tough

I mean, this is kind of what I'm getting at. I'm glad that we aren't afraid to go get the guys we want, but at the same time, we're always scrambling to do it.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

Not worried (too much) about the PHX 27' 1st because of this!! But at the same time, we should do everything that we can to try and get back our 26' 1st if possible.

Otherwise try to trade for more 26' draft picks to consolidate into a singular higher pick or 1st in that absurdly loaded draft! Maybe even a lottery pick if lucky that could he used to finally shore up a legit PGOTF or long term Power forward.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

[Mr Puddles]

On another note, it's absolutely amazing what Presti has done. Not only are they the 2nd youngest team to win a title, but they were missing their rookie lottery pick, Nikola Topic this year, so next year they have Sorber, nearly a lottery pick at 15, and last year's 12th pick in Topic, starting. Then the next 2 years they have their own firsts plus all these coming from other teams...(and more coming from other teams the years after that)...

Other than getting lucky to win the championship since you can’t touch SGA it’s actually bad asset management. He’s hoarding and they can’t afford to keep all these guys and by not trading these picks for consolidation he’s lowering their value.

I disagree, it's the best way to circumvent the second apron. If at one point OKC gets stuck in second apron hell, there's actually a possibility they might have a rookie contract player or two who might soften the blow.

Then as long as the max guys still hold value, they can move one of them for a positive return while having a new guy or two on a rookie level contract soften the blow.

Consolidating picks is a lot less attractive in the second apron era.

[lilfishi22]

On another note, it's absolutely amazing what Presti has done. Not only are they the 2nd youngest team to win a title, but they were missing their rookie lottery pick, Nikola Topic this year, so next year they have Sorber, nearly a lottery pick at 15, and last year's 12th pick in Topic, starting. Then the next 2 years they have their own firsts plus all these coming from other teams...(and more coming from other teams the years after that)...

Other than getting lucky to win the championship since you can’t touch SGA it’s actually bad asset management. He’s hoarding and they can’t afford to keep all these guys and by not trading these picks for consolidation he’s lowering their value.

I disagree, it's the best way to circumvent the second apron. If at one point OKC gets stuck in second apron hell, there's actually a possibility they might have a rookie contract player or two who might soften the blow.

Then as long as the max guys still hold value, they can move one of them for a positive return while having a new guy or two on a rookie level contract soften the blow.

Consolidating picks is a lot less attractive in the second apron era.

It remains to be seen what Presti is going to do with all those picks but it's clear he's not going to draft like 30 players between now and 2030. This is a good problem to have though. He could always consolidate and trade up to get a high pick in the very strong 2026 draft, he could defer and trade back to a draft in the future, or he could use draft assets to swap an expensive player for a similar player on a better contract etc. He has A LOT of options and because he's made so many good decisions up until now, he could afford to take some bigger gambles moving forward. This has been a master class in asset management.

[bwgood77]

Other than getting lucky to win the championship since you can’t touch SGA it’s actually bad asset management. He’s hoarding and they can’t afford to keep all these guys and by not trading these picks for consolidation he’s lowering their value.

I disagree, it's the best way to circumvent the second apron. If at one point OKC gets stuck in second apron hell, there's actually a possibility they might have a rookie contract player or two who might soften the blow.

Then as long as the max guys still hold value, they can move one of them for a positive return while having a new guy or two on a rookie level contract soften the blow.

Consolidating picks is a lot less attractive in the second apron era.

It remains to be seen what Presti is going to do with all those picks but it's clear he's not going to draft like 30 players between now and 2030. This is a good problem to have though. He could always consolidate and trade up to get a high pick in the very strong 2026 draft, he could defer and trade back to a draft in the future, or he could use draft assets to swap an expensive player for a similar player on a better contract etc. He has A LOT of options and because he's made so many good decisions up until now, he could afford to take some bigger gambles moving forward. This has been a master class in asset management.

I think he will mainly keep drafting and/or consolidating for better picks. Because rookie contracts not only give you a ton of upside, but they are such cheap contracts, which they will need when they are paying Shai, Jalen and Chet a lot of money. Luckily for them, most of their other players who make good money will probably be gone (Caruso, Hartenstein) or take smaller contracts to stay.