(repost because r/nba deleted the original that i shared)

Dyson Daniels and Franz Wagner both have a pretty decent shot to become the best eighth overall pick since the merger. the current competition is Detlef and Jamal Crawford? the level of hall of fame talent takes a massive dip at pick eight compared to the rest of the lottery.

7 you have Steph Curry, Chris Mullin, Kevin Johnson

number 9 you have Dirk, Tmac, Amare Stoudamire

10 you have paul Pierce and Paul George, Joe Johnson

11 you have Reggie MIller and SGA and Klay thompson

12 you even have Tyrese Halliburton, J Dub,

13 you have Kobe, Karl Malone and Devin Booker

14 you have Drexler, peja and Tim Hardaway Sr

15 you have Kawhi and Giannis and Steve Nash

You can find at least one better player than anyone picked at 8 up until maybe pick 34 you can often find 2 or even 3 players picked there better than anyone picked at number 8. at pick 35 for instance, you have Draymond, Deandre Jordan, and Carlos Boozer.

idk why this pick doesn't produce better players. I still have stock in Bilal so we'll see

Dyson Daniels and Franz Wagner both have a pretty decent shot to become the best eighth overall pick since the merger. the current competition is Detlef and Jamal Crawford? the level of hall of fame talent takes a massive dip at pick eight compared to the rest of the lottery.

7 you have Steph Curry, Chris Mullin, Kevin Johnson

number 9 you have Dirk, Tmac, Amare Stoudamire

10 you have paul Pierce and Paul George, Joe Johnson

11 you have Reggie MIller and SGA and Klay thompson

12 you even have Tyrese Halliburton, J Dub,

13 you have Kobe, Karl Malone and Devin Booker

14 you have Drexler, peja and Tim Hardaway Sr

15 you have Kawhi and Giannis and Steve Nash

You can find at least one better player than anyone picked at 8 up until maybe pick 34 you can often find 2 or even 3 players picked there better than anyone picked at number 8. at pick 35 for instance, you have Draymond, Deandre Jordan, and Carlos Boozer.

idk why this pick doesn't produce better players. I still have stock in Bilal so we'll see

Now the highest they picked was 2 with Chet but that was their own pick. The Rockets had top 3 protections on one of the Russell Westbrook traded picks, and then the other was the 12th pick that they used to trade up to 10.

*technically I guess the highest they picked is 10 from these trades but the Dallas trade wasn't really related to the insane amount of assets they acquired and was just them trading up from 12.

The Clippers picks they've gotten, it's actually pretty wild they weren't higher picks. 12th this year after an all time disastrous start to the season where we thought the thunder would get the first overall pick, and then the 2022 year when both Kawhi and PG were injured they still somehow were an 8 seed team.

If you compare this to the assets that the Pelicans got from the Lakers for AD, the Pels got much better higher value picks. they just...didn't pick as well. they got the 4th pick in the 2019 draft (traded back to get the 8th and 17th pick) and the 8th pick in 2022, which became Dyson Daniels. all in all they got Jaxson Hayes, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Didi Louzada, and Dyson Daniels and kinda Dejounte Murray too since they traded a lakers pick in that trade.

What I think we can learn is that the Thunder didn't really build a dynasty because they had a million draft picks and had a massive war chest, or because they were picking in the high lottery constantly. They were able to get so much value out of their late lottery picks. I think we have to accept that they just develop players better than other teams do. A second round pick was just their second star against the Lakers.