Grading OKC Thunder Swap With Washington Wizards

The defending NBA Champions have had a busy week. From hoisting its first Larry O'Brien trophy Sunday night, to a parade on Tuesday, the NBA Draft Wednesday and Thursday and today's rookie introduction press conference, the league's calendar never slows down.

On Saturday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder made a trade with the Washington Wizards that involved a former first-round pick. Let's grade the swap for each side.

Grading OKC Thunder Trade with Washington Wizards

Oklahoma City Thunder trades: Dillon Jones, 2029 second-round pick (via Houston)
Washington Wizards trades: Colby Jones

The Oklahoma City Thunder were desperate for a roster spot. The Thunder selected Thomas Sorber with the No. 15 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft with high hopes for the Georgetown product. They also stared down an offseason with a roster that saw all 15 standard pacts accounted for.

Something had to give. Just hours after introducing Sorber to the local media, the Thunder announced a trade that would grant him a roster spot.

Oklahoma City had to pay the Wizards a second-round pick, bringing its total to 6 invested in Dillon Jones, to get him off the roster to make way for its most recent second-round pick.

Sure, the sticker shock of using six second-round picks on one flyer prospect is steep. However, take yourself back to the trade deadline where Sam Presti and company acquired a second-round pick. The entire talking point was laughable cries from a fanbase tired of using about day two picks.

This is why you load up on those seemingly meaningless second-round picks. They are currency. Not only can they net a team quality players (as seen on Oklahoma City's roster), but it also helps a team execute trades to both bring in quality players and kick out bad ones.

Yes, the Thunder absolutely sunk six second-round picks into Jones; it was a bad investment. But in totality, it was as if Jeff Bezos played a penny stock and lost. How will he ever recover?

Oklahoma City has eighteen (18!) future second-round picks from 2026-2031 to comfort them for a failed experiment.

The Weber State product showed no signs of NBA juice at either the G League or big league level. He also didn't get much run, a trend that was never going to change in Bricktown. The Thunder move on from Jones and preserve Ousmane Dieng's $6.6 million expiring deal.

No, this isn't a sales pitch for Dieng to be a key cog on next year's Thunder squad, but for bookkeeping purposes, he is important.

That expiring pact is easy to trade both now and at the deadline in making money match for a swap and being a palatable flyer for a team to take at no risk to them and freeing up another roster spot in OKC –– which are hard to come by.

OKC Thunder Grade: C. A necessary and well-thought-out move that doesn't need much thought past today.

The Washington Wizards grab a second-round pick in 2029, which we just went over the value of having. They net this selection for free, not doing anything but swapping one chopping block player for another as a team whose salary cap sheet is inconsequential at this juncture.

With the Wizards front office being spearheaded by Will Dawkins –– off the Sam Presti General Manager tree –– it would make sense that he finds the Weber State product appealing.

While this scribe has doubts about Jones ever becoming an NBA mainstay after that rookie season, at least a change of scenery and more minutes should be granted to him in D.C.

With the Wizards in a rebuild, everyone knows what March and early April can look like. Washington is digging deep into its bench to give the likes of Jones chances. They are in the same boat that Dawkins saw Presti navigate through during the Thunder's rebuild.

Oklahoma City routinely brought in low-leverage flyers, even if it costs a tad more money, for the benefit of extra draft assets, which is all this is.

No matter if Jones works out or not, the Wizards pass this trade with flying colors, getting the most valuable assets out of the ordeal: A draft pick, rather than just a roster spot.

Washington Wizards Grade: A+