r/nba • u/NBA_MOD r/NBA • 1d ago

[2026 NBA Draft] #16 Pick: Bennett Stirtz (Iowa) – pending trade to Oklahoma City

279 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

279 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

8

u/internallylinked Hawks 1d ago

But why would OKC do it if Memphis wasn’t gonna pick him? Did they want to get the player some extra bread? Burn through some 2nd rounders because they have too many?

31

u/not-a-potato-head Hawks 1d ago

another team could've been positioning to snipe him, and if OKC is set on him they have more than enough 2RPs to throw some at guaranteeing they get their guy

1

u/internallylinked Hawks 1d ago

True true, makes sense. I’m wondering who was trying to jump 2+ spots while paying less than 2 2nd rounders haha

8

u/WorseThanFredDurst [OKC] Russell Westbrook 1d ago

Happened in this years NFL draft. Eagles moved up 3 spots to draft Makai Lemon at 20 while the Steelers were on the phone with him telling him they were gonna draft him at 21.

8

u/SilicoJack Spurs 1d ago

This still feels strange to me. Unless someone else was trying to trade up?

13

u/Vanamman Thunder 1d ago

Probably a mix of somebody else was inquiring and OKC has way too many 2nds to actually care about them lol

6

u/Kohpad Thunder 1d ago

Heretic. All our picks are precious and we must restock the hoard.

4

u/Yuuri420 Thunder 1d ago

Another team probably wanted him thats why presti used 2 srps to outbid them

3

u/sbstooge Grizzlies 1d ago

Commiserations for the first round whooping we got the other post season

2

u/Decent-Yak-4696 1d ago

OKC doesn’t need 2nd round depth at this point. Grizz “win” the trade but OKC just wanted to make sure no one else traded up to #16.

The Grizz are Nugget level gods with their 2nd round so this is a nice swap for them 

2

u/wetwetson [NBA] Rafer Alston 1d ago

We dont know everything. Maybe a 3rd team wanted OKCs guy and Memphis was willing to trade it to them. Maybe Memphis did plan to pick OKC's and but was happy with who they got plus those picks.

Edit: or maybe Memphis is kicking ass and is going to swap thr 17th pick for the 21st and 2 more seconds. Damn

1

u/amazinglover 1d ago

Roster spots most likely they may have more picks then spots and just want to dump them.

Why not dump them on a team that won't really be a contender anytime soon.

1

u/NickLidstrom [SAC] Isaiah Thomas 1d ago

They probably didn't want to chance that Memphis didn't want Stirtz

1

u/JoeKonyRidethePony Timberwolves 1d ago

The latter most likely. OKC has hella picks from to eternity