The Oklahoma City Thunder looked every bit like a dynasty in progress for about 12 weeks of the 2026 playoffs. They swept Phoenix. They handled LA. Then Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs did what nobody in the West had done all year: they made the Thunder look small.
That seven-game Western Conference Finals loss was brutal for a reason. San Antonio attacked the glass, bullied Holmgren in the paint and forced Oklahoma City into bad half-court possessions. The Thunder do not have a roster flaw you’d call fatal. But they do have a specific one that cost them a chance at back-to-back titles. And Sam Presti has the assets to fix it right now.
The No. 12 pick is nice. The No. 8 pick could be the difference.
Oklahoma City walks into the 2026 NBA Draft with three selections inside the top 37. That includes the No. 12 pick, plus a No. 17 from the Philadelphia trade and a second-rounder at No. 37. Most teams would use those to restock the bench. The Thunder should use them to move up.
Atlanta holds the No. 8 pick and has signaled they are open to trading down, according to league sources. A package of No. 12, No. 17 and No. 37 gives the Hawks three swings at a deep class. For Oklahoma City, the math is simple: getting inside the top 10 dramatically increases the odds of grabbing a rotation-ready player. And one name keeps surfacing as the ideal target.
Morez Johnson Jr. plays the exact role the Thunder are missing
Michigan’s Morez Johnson Jr. is not a flashy prospect. He’s a 6-foot-9 forward with a motor that does not stop, elite defensive instincts and the kind of positional versatility that fits perfectly in Mark Daigneault’s system. He switches onto guards. He cleans the glass. He sets bone-rattling screens. That last part matters more than people realize.
Against San Antonio, Holmgren had to guard bruising interior players possession after possession. That wore him down on both ends. Johnson can absorb that physical punishment. He lets Holmgren roam as a help defender, which is where Holmgren is at his best. It changes the entire defensive structure without asking anyone to change their game.
The offense gets a boost too. Oklahoma City’s half-court sets bogged down against the Spurs because defenses packed the paint and sent extra help at Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Johnson’s ability to dive hard to the rim and finish above it creates vertical spacing the Thunder do not currently have outside of Holmgren. That forces defenses to pick their poison.
Presti has built an empire on stockpiling picks. But at some point you stop collecting assets and start spending them. Oklahoma City is one win away from the Finals. Johnson is the kind of connective piece that gets them back there. The trade is sitting right in front of them.
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