It’s been nearly four years since the 2019 NBA draft took place, which means plenty of time has passed to look back upon the class with proper hindsight.
The HoopsHype staff decided to recently conduct a re-draft of the class, including players that went undrafted.
As a quick reminder, the Oklahoma City Thunder were fresh off of a disappointing first-round exit by the Portland Trail Blazers.
The draft took place a couple of weeks before the Thunder decided to shock the NBA world and blow up their core headlined by Russell Westbrook and Paul George.
While the Thunder technically drafted Brandon Clarke, his rights were immediately sent to the Memphis Grizzlies. In terms of actual drafted players who ended up with the Thunder, Darius Bazley was the lone selection.
With that said, the Thunder did find an undrafted gem in Lu Dort, who played his way into being a key piece of the current rebuild.
Let’s take a look at where current Thunder players went in the 2019 re-draft.
Credit: Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports
- Re-draft selection: No. 7
- Real selection: Undrafted
“From undrafted to the No. 7 spot in our re-draft, Lu Dort has done a fantastic job of developing into one of the best guard defenders in the league, an energetic two-way player and a much-improved offensive player. It’s rare for an undrafted player to go Top 10 in one of our re-drafts, but Dort has done more than enough already in his career to earn this distinction.”
Dort finished as the biggest riser from the exercise, jumping from an UDFA to No. 7.
Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
- Re-draft selection: Undrafted
- Real selection: No. 23
On the flip side, Bazley was one of the highest picks not listed, going from the 23rd pick to undrafted.
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