{"id":140391,"date":"2025-05-20T08:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T12:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=140391"},"modified":"2025-05-20T00:38:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T04:38:22","slug":"5-thunder-draft-prospects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/05\/20\/5-thunder-draft-prospects\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 5 Draft Prospects for the Thunder"},"content":{"rendered":"

The league’s best team has a chance to get even better in this year’s draft. The Oklahoma City Thunder hold the 15th, 24th, and 44th overall picks in the 2025 NBA Draft. There are multiple routes they can go<\/a>, such as trading the picks or using them. If Sam Presti decides to use the picks, he could acquire some interesting names. Here are my top five draft prospects for the Thunder in such a deep class and range of picks. <\/span><\/p>\n

Top 5 Draft Prospects for the Thunder<\/h2>\n

1: Noa Essengue<\/span><\/h3>\n

At pick 15, Noa Essengue<\/a> would be the perfect pick and fit for Oklahoma City. The Frenchman playing for Ratiopharm Ulm in Germany has made a name for himself. Standing 6-foot-9, he brings a great frame to the small forward position. He is also extremely young, fitting right in with previous picks like Nikola Topic<\/a> on the age scale. <\/span><\/p>\n

He has many strengths, but excels at efficient shooting and perimeter defense. For Ratiopharm Ulm, he is averaging 6.9 shots a game on 23.7 minutes per outing. He is also knocking down shots at a 56 percent rate. He also drives well and draws fouls at a high rate, averaging 5.6 free throws a night. Defensively, his length and athleticism make him a fantastic defender. Averaging 1.4 steals a game, he would fit right in with the Thunder’s defensive scheme. <\/span><\/p>\n

The only flaws Essengue has are his three-point shooting and lack of discipline on defense. He only shot the three-ball at a 29.4 clip in Germany. However, that can be developed thanks to his free-throw numbers. The other downside is he fouls a lot, 2.6 times per game. Translate that to per 36 minutes, it comes out to four fouls a game. Multiple mock drafts<\/a> have him falling to pick number 15, so it seems like a match made in heaven. <\/span><\/p>\n

2: Thomas Sorber<\/span><\/h3>\n

Thomas Sorber<\/a> had quite the freshman season. The 19-year-old scored 14.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, and two blocks per game in the Big East Conference. Standing at 6-foot-10 inches tall, Sorber would serve as Isaiah Hartenstein’s<\/a> future replacement. Hartenstein has one guaranteed year left on his contract, and the final year is a team option. Depending on extensions for Chet Holmgren<\/a> and Jalen Williams<\/a>, the Thunder could decline the option. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sorber is a defensive monster, and Oklahoma City has put defense back on the map. As a center, he also averaged 1.5 steals a game, which should have the Thunder front office salivating. They would not be drafting him for offensive talent, as there is little to be impressed by. Instead, they would focus on him being an enforcer down low when Hartenstein leaves, and Holmgren needs rest. Sorber would be a great fit if he falls and Essengue goes in the lottery. <\/span><\/p>\n

3: Derik Queen <\/span><\/h3>\n

The Thunder drafting Derik Queen<\/a> is more of a pipe dream. To do this, they would have to trade up in the draft. The perfect spot would be trading with the Brooklyn Nets to pick number eight. This trade could include<\/a> getting Cameron Johnson<\/a> to Oklahoma City, but it also gives them a shot at Queen. Undoubtedly, the Thunder would have to trade a ton of picks to land Johnson and trade up to eight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Queen is a disciplined center who doesn’t foul and gets you rebounds. As mentioned with Sorber, he serves as the eventual replacement for Hartenstein. He plays solid defense, though his rim-protecting skills could improve. He gets to the charity stripe often and knocks down his shots. Queen is a gifted and well-rounded scorer with an excellent feel for the game. He would not make an instant impact in Oklahoma City, but it could be seen after a year how great a pick it would be. The only problem is, would he still be available at eighth overall? <\/span><\/p>\n

4: Rasheer Fleming<\/span><\/h3>\n

Rasheer Fleming<\/a> is one of the best 3-and-D players<\/a> in the draft. During his junior year at Saint Joseph’s, he shot 39 percent from long range and averaged 14.7 points a night. He also racked up 1.5 blocks and 1.4 steals per game. He brings size and great rebounding.<\/span><\/p>\n

With questions regarding the future of players like Luguentz Dort<\/a>, the Thunder may be looking to find their next big 3-and-D player. Fleming could be that guy. Whether he falls to pick number 24 or if they take a shot on him at pick number 15, he would be a good player to pick up for the future. He should not be the number one player on their board at either pick, but it is a good player to have in the back of your mind if you are Sam Presti. <\/span><\/p>\n

5: Rocco Zikarsky<\/span><\/h3>\n

The casual fan may not know who Rocco Zikarsky<\/a> is. That is not bad, as he is a projected second-round pick. Zikarsky played in the NBL last season, which is<\/span> the same league Ousmane Dieng<\/a> and former Thunder guard Josh Giddey<\/a> played in. Zikarsky also has a ton in common with Dieng, as he would be a project pick. He could be a second-round pick for OKC.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zikarsky is a young center with room to improve. The most impressive feature about Zikarsky is his size, standing at a towering 7-foot-3. His per-36 minutes show he would be an interior monster, averaging two blocks a game. The downside is that his post-scoring is not refined yet. A season or two in the NBA G League could fix that, as it did the same for Dieng. Still, this would be a project pick at 44th overall, and could turn into a steal of the draft.<\/span><\/p>\n

These are my top five draft prospects for the Thunder. This is all with the thought of where the picks for them are, and based on fit. The first thought should be to go get Noa Essengue, then everyone else should serve as a backup plan.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Featured image: \u00a9 Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The league’s best team has a chance to get even better in this year’s draft. The Oklahoma City Thunder hold the 15th, 24th, and 44th overall picks in the 2025 NBA Draft. There are multiple routes they can go, such as trading the picks or using them. If Sam Presti decides to use the picks, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5432,"featured_media":140405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,556,22],"tags":[49375,49871,49859,50110,49870,49963],"class_list":["post-140391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-nba-draft","category-thunder","tag-2025-nba-draft","tag-derik-queen","tag-noa-essengue","tag-rasheer-fleming","tag-rocco-zikarsky","tag-thomas-sorber"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5432"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140391"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140407,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140391\/revisions\/140407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}