NBA draft winners and losers: Thunder make big move

NEW YORK – Kevin Durant is a week away from becoming the most coveted unrestricted free agent since LeBron James held the basketball world hostage two years ago. All season, the former Most Valuable Player and four-time scoring champion has offered little to no hint about where he might be leaning as he prepares to make the most important decision of his basketball career.

The Oklahoma City Thunder, the only franchise for which Durant has played, has made every effort to assemble the most talented roster around him and Russell Westbrook, and came within one game of reaching the NBA Finals. But on a night that was supposed to be about Ben Simmons going first overall to the Philadelphia 76ers exactly 20 years after soon-to-be Hall of Fame inductee Allen Iverson, Thunder general manager Sam Presti made a stunning trade that also sent a message to the rest of the league that Oklahoma City is serious about not letting go of its best player.

Presti dealt Serge Ibaka, a three-time all-defensive team player and a core member of a team that has reached the conference finals four times in the past six seasons, to Orlando in exchange for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and the rights to big man Domantas Sabonis. Ibaka's shot-blocking presence will be missed, but the Thunder may have finally found the answer at shooting guard in Oladipo, a former No. 2 overall pick who has shown flashes but failed to fully launch with the Magic.

Oladipo can defend and also take some of the playmaking burden off Westbrook and Durant, should the latter decide to stay for at least another year. Durant will have a tough decision either way, but Presti has made it clear that the Thunder won't stand pat in pursuit of that elusive championship.

Here's the rest of the 2016 NBA draft's winners and losers:

LOSER 
Boston Celtics The best draft night of Danny Ainge's tenure running the Celtics came nine years ago, when he was able to select Jeff Green and ship him to Seattle in exchange for Ray Allen. That move set the table for Boston to acquire Kevin Garnett later that summer to form a Hall of Fame trio that produced two Finals trips and an NBA championship in 2008. Ever since Allen, Garnett and Paul Pierce moved on, Ainge has been stacking assets with the hope – or expectation – that he could pull off another franchise-altering deal.

Celtics fans are still waiting. Armed with three first-round picks, Ainge was unable to make a deal, either because he wanted too much or was unwilling to surrender enough. Instead of getting Jimmy Butler or any other All-Star talent, the Celtics selected California swingman Jaylen Brown third overall, French power forward Guerschon Yabusele and Croatian center Ante Zizic – fine selections, but not the type of players who will have the kind of immediate impact Boston needs to move up in the Eastern Conference.

Coach Brad Stevens has proven that he can put a highly competitive team on the court, regardless of the names on the back of those storied uniforms, but the Celtics need stars to be anything more than a first-round flirtation.

WINNER
New York Knicks 
For a team that didn't have a pick, the Knicks managed to hog some of the spotlight leading into the draft with a blockbuster trade for Derrick Rose that might help them in the present but sets them up for an intriguing summer in 2017. While it is easy to criticize the Knicks for getting constantly intoxicated by acquiring big names instead of patiently trying to build something substantive, the Rose deal is a justifiable gamble because it has minimal risk – and possibly a huge reward.

For one, Rose will be in a contract year and has been eagerly waiting for a clean break from Chicago after injuries prohibited him from being the post-Jordan savior. And secondly, if Rose is unable to recapture anything close to his All-Star form, the Knicks can let him walk and have considerable salary cap room to make free-agent pushes for Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin or possibly Kevin Durant. Or, in the ultimate dream scenario, the Knicks could assemble the banana boat crew by connecting Carmelo Anthony with Paul, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Would that interest Knicks fans?

LOSER
Orlando Magic
After years of patiently drafting and developing talent, the Magic have been undone by impatience. Orlando hired Scott Skiles to expedite the team's push to become a playoff contender but that experiment imploded after one year, as several of its prospects had their development stunted – and Tobias Harris was shipped out in a salary dump.

Hiring Frank Vogel appeared to be the move that could get those young pieces to prosper, but the Magic abandoned another one of their promising players in Victor Oladipo as part of a deal to acquire Oklahoma City Thunder center Serge Ibaka. Getting Ibaka would make more sense if Orlando didn't already have Aaron Gordon in the fold. Gordon, the high-flying, slam-dunk champion, couldn't find consistent playing time until Harris moved on. Now, with Ibaka and Nikola Vucevic around, Gordon could be back to playing the waiting game. The Magic had no use for the rights to Domantas Sabonis, who was sent to the Thunder, but needed a veteran small forward rather than another big man. Sacrificing a young, potentially dynamic scorer could come back to haunt them.

WINNER
Indiana Pacers
President Larry Bird has desperately tried to turn the Pacers into an up-tempo, high-scoring team that can exploit the multifaceted skill set of All-Star Paul George. He has been shedding the remnants of that plodding, grinding team that made back-to-back conference finals trips in 2013 and ’14 during the past two offseasons and used the draft as an opportunity to double down on picking up the pace.

Indiana entered the week with George Hill and the No. 20 pick and ended the week with All-Star point guard Jeff Teague and forward Thaddeus Young – two players who can complement George and second-year big man Myles Turner. Teague, an Indianapolis native who has the city's skyline tattooed on his arm, should be rejuvenated from a disappointing playoff run with the Atlanta Hawks.

New coach Nate McMillan will have to figure out how Monta Ellis, a ball-domimant slasher, will fit alongside two playmakers in George and Teague. And, Hill's defensive intensity and versatility will be missed, but Bird has the pieces he needs if the Pacers are looking to run.

LOSER
Sacramento Kings 
 

The Kings never fail in finding a way to upset franchise cornerstone DeMarcus Cousins. Since taking Cousins fifth overall in 2010, Sacramento has managed to remain a lottery team while still failing to draft a competent running mate for its All-Star center. The list of misses has been an embarrassment – especially considering the players the Kings have passed on – that continues to keep the organization foundering.

A failed attempt to make a playoff run under former coach George Karl put the Kings in a decent position with the No. 8 pick, but vice president Vlade Divac elected to trade down with Phoenix so that he could acquire Bogdan Bogdanovic and two more big men – Georgios Papagiannis from Greece and Kentucky's Skal Labissiere – with picks Nos. 13 and 28, respectively.

The Suns used the eighth pick on Marquese Chriss, a Sacramento native, no less, from Washington. After The Vertical reported the deal, Cousins wrote a message on Twitterthat read, "Lord give me the strength," with a praying-hands emoji afterward. With Cousins and Willie Cauley-Stein, taken sixth last season, the Kings weren't exactly in desperate need for more size. But at least Sacramento is consistent with its head-scratching draft maneuvers.

WINNER
Minnesota Timberwolves
With back-to-back rookies of the year in Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns, a stable of solid young role players in Zach LaVine, Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng and new coach Tom Thibodeau the Timberwolves were already generating buzz that an Oklahoma City-level uprising could be in the works for the franchise with the NBA's longest postseason drought.

Thibodeau has long coveted Providence's Kris Dunn, arguably the most NBA-ready and easily the best point guard in draft. But the likelihood that Dunn would be available with the fifth pick wasn't very high with teams expecting to trade up to get him at third or fourth. But after the Celtics chose Brown and the Suns selected Dragan Bender, Dunn was waiting to be plucked by the league's most exciting young team. Unable to use Dunn as part of a package that could've yielded All-Star Jimmy Butler, Thibodeau will have to settle for having a defensive-minded floor leader to help bring this collection of talent together.

WINNER
Brandon Ingram's blazer
The draft usually yields some unique and often questionable fashion statements. Some, such as suits worn by Jalen Rose, Hakeem Olajuwon and Karl Malone, are immediately panned. Others, such as LeBron James' bold, white but exceedingly baggy suit, don't always hold up with time. Seemingly warned well in advance of the public pelting – especially in the age of Twitter – that can come from a horrendous outfit, the 2016 NBA draft class didn't take as many risks. But Ingram decided to break from his peers and went with a shiny, silver and black metallic jacket that turned a few heads and showed that – at least from a fashion perspective – Ingram is ready for Los Angeles.

LOSER
Socks
It's got to be the shoes. With expensive loafers to flaunt, draft picks didn't want them overshadowed by some tacky socks. Player after player walked up to shake hands with Adam Silver elated to let the world know that they applied some lotion to their ankles.