Top 5 NBA Future Rankings: Trail Blazers sneak in despite lack of superstar

1. Oklahoma City Thunder

Notable up-and-coming players:

• Nikola Topic, 18

• Cason Wallace, 20

• Chet Holmgren, 22

• Jaylin Williams, 22

• Jalen Williams, 23

• Lu Dort, 25

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 26

The Oklahoma City Thunder are the prime example of what a rebuilding team should do—trade away their established players for young assets (giving them a worse record and better draft pick in the process), take on bad contracts for additional draft capital, and strike when the time is right.

The most notorious example of a move they made was trading Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers for SGA, Danilo Gallinari, five first-round picks, and two pick swaps. The deal for SGA is an outlier, as no one knew he'd turn into this level of MVP-type talent. But the premise remains the same.

OKC finished last season tied for the best record in the Western Conference and are finally putting their foot on the gas and accelerating the rebuild. They strategically traded Josh Giddey to the Bulls for a player to help them win now in Alex Caruso. Yet, they somehow also found a way to replace Giddey's skill set by drafting another player with excellent positional size and playmaking ability, Nikola Topic.

The SGA trade was only the beginning of the Thunder's brilliant rebuild. They are also arguably the best in the league at scouting and drafting prospects, emphasizing players with versatility like Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren. OKC is arguably the biggest threat in the West entering next season, and that could be the case for the next decade if everything falls into place.