Jazz/Thunder Trade Notes: Draft Pick, Cash, Deck

January 5, 2022

The 2028 second-round pick the Thunder acquired from the Jazz in Tuesday’s Miye Oni trade was technically already owed to Oklahoma City conditionally, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter).

When the Jazz sent Derrick Favors to the Thunder in an offseason deal, Utah included a top-10 protected 2024 first-round pick. If that pick falls in its protected range, the Jazz would instead owe the Thunder their top-10 protected first-round pick pick in 2025. If it still hasn’t changed hands by that point, it would become a top-eight protected 2026 first-rounder.

The conditions of the Favors trade called for the Thunder to get Utah’s 2028 second-round pick if that first-rounder fell in its protected range all three years. Now, Oklahoma City will receive the pick unconditionally. If the Jazz’s 2024 first-rounder isn’t conveyed after 2026, the Thunder will instead receive $890K in cash, according to Marks.

Here’s more on the Jazz/Thunder swap:

  • The Thunder sent $1MM in cash to Utah as part of the trade, according to Marks. So not only did the Jazz avoid having Oni’s dead money increase their year-end tax bill — they also received more than enough cash to cover the prorated salary they’d already paid him this season.
  • The Thunder, who had to waive Gabriel Deck to make room on their roster for Oni, will carry a cap hit of $1,690,507 in dead money for Deck. His $3,676,852 salary wasn’t guaranteed, but Oklahoma City paid him a portion of that figure prorated across 80 days.
  • Sarah Todd of The Deseret News considers how trading away Oni and creating another opening on the roster could affect the Jazz’s plans on the trade market in the coming weeks.