The protections for the 2027 first-round pick the Oklahoma City Thunder acquired from the Denver Nuggets in the JaMychal Green trade have been revealed.
ESPN’s Zach Lowe reported on the most recent episode of his podcast, “The Lowe Post,” that the pick is top-five protected.
UPDATE:
Lowe reports
Top 5 protected in 2027, 2028, and 2029, then converts to 2 2nds.
A couple notes:
To include 2029, must be executed after the draft.
He hypothesizes 2030 2nds, but that's too far out to be legal. My guess is it converts to just one 2029 2nd. https://t.co/GYynmEQRm5 pic.twitter.com/Me5oA2YMxS
— Stephen Dolan (@SteveThunderfan) June 21, 2022
Windy accidentally says he's heard OKC's 2027 Denver pick is top-5 protected.
FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH pic.twitter.com/y5otUCCKKV
— Stephen Dolan (@SteveThunderfan) June 21, 2022
If the Nuggets get a top-five pick in the 2027 draft, the Thunder will have two more chances to get the first-round pick: 2028 and 2029 under the same top-five protection.
If the Nuggets get three consecutive top-fives in the 2027, 2028 and 2029 drafts, then the Thunder will get one or two second-round picks.
Considering all the Thunder had to eat was Green’s $8.2 million salary for next season, this is a massive win that they were able to get such a light protection on a small trade.
The Thunder helped the Nuggets shed $20 million of luxury taxes on their payroll with this trade. The Nuggets, who recently loss general manager Tim Connelly to the Minnesota Timberwolves, appear to be trying to shed salary off their team payroll. A quartet of massive contracts to Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon take up virtually their entire cap space.
