What was OKC Thunder's Worst Mistake of 2020s?

The 2020s have been nearly flawless for the Oklahoma City Thunder. It pulled off one of the more impressive rebuilds in NBA history to capture its first-ever NBA championship against the Indiana Pacers in 2025. Any mistake it might've made in the last five years would be rather inconsequential compared to the rest.

That doesn't make it less interesting to look at what it could be, however. ESPN's Zach Kram took a look at it in a recent article, calling Oklahoma City's 2021 NBA Draft decision to trade out of pick 16 the franchise's worst. That pick went on to be Alperen Sengun — the Houston Rockets' franchise center.

In a vacuum, Kram would be right. The Thunder got two future picks in return, one of them being used to select Ousmane Dieng. The forward hasn't exactly panned out to be a significant rotation piece, while Sengun has blossomed into a legitimate star that would've been huge for Oklahoma City to have.

There's more poor draft decisions that general manager Sam Presti has made — including the selection of Aleksej Pokusevski in 2020 — but all pale in comparision to missing out on a talent like Sengun. That being said, the error was corrected rather quickly.

The following year, the Thunder selected Chet Holmgren with the No. 2 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. There could be a debate between he and Sengun on who the better talent is, but Holmgren has blossomed to equally become a franchise center. Without him, Oklahoma City might not go on to win a championship this soon.

Sengun isn't near the defensive talent of Holmgren, who anchored the Thunder's unit down low to create one of the most dominant in league history. Once he can get his offense back to form, the All-Star selections are also sure to come.

Sure, Sengun would've been a much better selection for Oklahoma City, but that means it might not have gotten Holmgren. If it had to pick between the two, nobody in the Thunder organization would say Sengun.

It was a mistake, but not one that Oklahoma City is going to think about often.