THE Oklahoma City Thunder selected three players in the 2024 NBA Draft.
OKC selected Nikola Theme And Dillon Jones with the 12th and 26th picks respectively on Wednesday.
Topic is a 6-foot-6 guard who averaged 15.1 points and 5.9 assists in a combined 18 games last season with Mega MIS and Crvena Zvezda, both of the Serbian KLS. Jones, meanwhile, is a 6-foot-5 forward who averaged 20.8 points and 9.8 rebounds as a junior at Weber State.
OKC then traded up in the second round on Thursday to select UC Santa Barbara Ajay Mitchell with the No. 38 pick. The 6-3 guard averaged 20 points and four assists while shooting 39.3 percent from three-point range as a junior last season.
Here’s a breakdown of OKC’s rookies and grades for the picks.
More:2024 NBA Draft Tracker: OKC Thunder Select Serbian Point Guard Nikola Topic 12th Overall
OKC Thunder 2024 NBA Draft Picks
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First round, No. 12 overall | Nikola ThemeG, Serbia
Topic was considered a top-five talent by many draft picks, but his stock plummeted earlier this month when he suffered a partially torn ACL. It’s possible he could miss all of next season because of that.
But time is on OKC’s side, which already has one of the best young cores in the league and is poised to contend for a title next season.
The subject could also be worth the wait. The oversized guard is one of the best passers in his class and is a crafty finisher around the basket. He could certainly fit in OKC and take some of the ball-handling pressure off Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Topic does have areas of his game he’ll need to improve, though. He shot 29.6 percent from three-point range last season and was just as inconsistent on defense.
If this sounds familiar, Josh Giddey ran into the same issues last season with the Thunder. The third-year point guard was ultimately traded to Chicago for Alex Caruso on Thursday.
Still, I’d say Topic has more potential than Giddey, both shooting and defensively. Topic was OKC’s best prospect available at No. 12. And with so much talent already on the roster, she was in a position to take a risk with this selection.
Grade: B+
More:Who is Nikola Topic? Meet the new OKC Thunder point guard, 12th overall pick in the NBA draft
First round, No. 26 overall | Dillon JonesF, Weber State
Jones wasn’t invited to the green room Wednesday, and most sites projected him as a second-round talent.
But OKC traded up to select Jones with the No. 26 pick. It sent five future second-round picks spanning 2025-27 to New York.
Jones is a 6-foot-4 forward with remarkable strength, which he uses to finish around the basket and crash the glass. And while he’s just a 32 percent 3-point shooter and an average athlete, the 22-year-old prospect is a proven scorer who could eventually produce as a backup for OKC.
Is Jones worth five future second-round picks? Would he have been drafted in the second round? Who knows.
But for an OKC team with deep draft capital, you can’t fault them too much for trading up a few of them to get their guy.
Grade: C+
More:OKC Thunder add Ajay Mitchell via trade with Knicks, 38th overall pick in 2024 NBA Draft, per report
Second round, No. 38 overall | Ajay Mitchell, G, UC Santa Barbara
The Thunder remained active in the second round on Thursday.
OKC sent Lindy Waters III to Golden State for the No. 52 pickwhich he sent to Portland along with cash in exchange for the No. 40 pick. The Thunder then traded the No. 40 pick and cash to New York in exchange for the No. 38 pick, which they used to select Mitchell.
Like Jones, Mitchell is a 22-year-old prospect from a mid-major program. He’s a crafty finisher around the basket who can also create for others, and he became even more of a threat on offense last season when his three-point shooting jumped from 26.7 percent to 39.3 percent.
On defense, Mitchell doesn’t have the best speed or athleticism. But he still uses a powerful motor to hold his own on that side of the ball.
Mitchell is expected to be a versatile player who will spend most of next season with the OKC Blue, the Thunder’s G League affiliate. If his improved three-point shooting is anything to go by, he could eventually earn a spot in the NBA.
Grade: B-
