After an initial delay due to technical difficulties, the inaugural RDA rookie draft kicked off Nov 23rd at 11:12AM when OKC used their recent trade into the top slot to select James Wiseman, future Warriors’ franchise center. SAS then nabbed Anthony Edwards a minute and a half later. It took LAC nine whole minutes to take the new pride of Charlotte, LaMelo Ball. An hour in, we had finished up nine picks as Deni Avdija went off the board to ORL. Fun fact: OKC had Wiseman and RD1.7 Tyrese Haliburton in their possession by 12:04PM. The possible future of OKC secured in a mere fifty minutes!
At the end of the first day, our draft rooms had worked through twenty-six picks, as DEN took Malachi Flynn to put a close to the evening. In full, the two round draft took about three days. Very efficient work gentlemen!
And not only was it efficient, it was quite busy…
MIA and PHX kicked things off with our first ever in-draft trade as MIA exchanged positions with PHX to go from RD1.6 to RD1.5, taking Killian Hayes -- PHX dropped down for Obi Toppin. Will that end up being more 1998, when Toronto and Golden State exchanged Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison? Or more like some other disastrous years when one player booms while another busts?
Regardless of what the future may hold for Hayes and Toppin, their exchange kicked off a whirlwind of activity! There were a total of sixteen trades, ten players moved, $404 FAAB spent, and twenty-six current and future picks shuffled around. Phew!
Overall there were five 2020 RD1 traded, thirteen RD2 pushed around, and even three picks that were redirected twice — RD2.23, RD2.26, RD2.30. That is the type of hot action that makes RDA better than the NBA right?!? And throughout the entirety of the draft, twenty-eight of our thirty teams made selections, with only MIL and the under new ownership NOP franchises abstaining. Pretty good for a draft that so many teams had traded out of, and then back in.
Some more tidbits: Only fifteen of our sixty picks were made by teams that could claim original ownership of the selection — and only three out of the top ten. TOR led the way with six new players, including Patrick Williams, Josh Green, Isaiah Stewart, and Immanuel Quickley in the first round. DEN came away with five total rookies, and three firsts: RJ Hampton, Flynn, and Zeke Nnaji. Two other teams, MIA and ORL, had three first rounders as well.
Congrats everyone and look forward to an upcoming podcast episode about this draft, featuring the one and only MEM Grizz! And speaking of that mighty trade machine, so far in 2020-21, RDA has completed forty-five trades already. Last season, there were "only" 112 total so it looks like we’re gonna smash that number moving forward. Commissioner, we’re gonna to need a bigger computer!
Oh, and our first Mr. Irrelevant? Vit Krejci, taken by BKN with the last pick. [ Was it worth $17 FAAB just to write that last line? Yes it was… ]
While we're here, let’s review what it cost for OKC to get that historic number one overall shall we?
At the end of January, OKC traded for MIL’s 2020 RD1 by slipping them a 2020 RD1, 2021 RD1, 2020 RD2, and Admiral Schofield — in exchange for MIL 2020 RD1 and Chris Silva (Trade ID#67). Then, four days before the draft, OKC moved Josh Jackson and now the post-lottery 2020 RD1.2 for SAS’s 2020 RD1.1 and DJ Wilson (ID#134).
That 2020 RD1 ended up at RD1.20 and was used by MIN to select Vernon Carey. The 2020 RD2 was used by POR to take Skylar Mays at RD2.27. SAS used 2020 RD1.2 on Anthony Edwards. So in sum, for OKC to draft Wiseman, Zeya moved Josh Jackson, Admiral Schofield, Vernon Carey, Skyler Mays, and a 2021 RD1 for his choice of the best player in the draft. Worth it?
From the press conference / socially distanced parade feting Zeya’s foresight, one reveler drunkenly asked what was behind OKC’s thinking to grab that first pick. From the bottom step of his in-progress championship monument, Zeya had this to say:
“It was clear early in the year that MIL was keen to deal his top 3 pick due to the perceived weak draft class. After some deliberation over the wisdom of investing in such a class, the deciding factor was the potential ability to snag my own hometown Warriors future cornerstone player in -- hopefully -- James Wiseman.
After acquiring MIL's pick, both my OKC franchise and the real life Warriors landed in the number two slot. While that boded well for a Wiseman selection by the Dubs, uncertainty remained as to whether SAS would move on Wiseman at number one, leaving me to watch him play out his career for another team. Trading up to RD1.1 was the only way to secure beyond a doubt that the Warriors' future franchise big man would land with me in OKC."
The rest is history... Champagne dreams my friends, let’s toast to the bold moves and wizardry of OKC! I mean, seriously, is Sam Presti moonlighting as Zeya? Or is Zeya moonlighting as Sam Presti? We may never know! Well actually, with a thousand upcoming picks in future drafts, we may find out soon enough...