Seemingly every year in the NFL, there’s a team that finishes last in its division one year and first the next. In the MLB, there’s almost always a team that gets hot at the right time and makes a playoff run despite a lack of stars. In the NBA, however, you can look at everyone’s roster during preseason and have a pretty good indication of how competitive each team will be. It’s by far the most talent-dependent league, so unless you have multiple all-star caliber players, better luck next year. This is why NBA teams constantly reset their timeline and “rebuild.” By trading away its best players and accumulating future assets, like draft picks, a team can sacrifice winning now in order to win in the future.

However, that’s easier said than done. The Detroit Pistons haven’t won a playoff series since 2008. They’ve constantly had draft picks in the lottery, and they’re still one of the worst teams in basketball. The Charlotte Hornets haven’t made the playoffs since 2016, despite hitting on their highest pick, LaMelo Ball. On the other hand, there are success stories every year as well. The Knicks, Cavaliers, and Thunder all failed to reach the playoffs in 2021-22 but are all top-eight favorites to win the title this season. This brings up the question: How did they do it? Each team took a different strategy, laying the blueprint for rebuilding in the modern NBA.

Oklahoma City Thunder

If there was one word to describe the Thunder’s rebuild, it would be “textbook.” What separates them from the Knicks and Cavs is that their general manager (GM) Sam Presti was able to start the rebuild while they still had a valuable roster. By trading away Russell Westbrook and Paul George for future draft picks and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA), a promising rookie at the time, Presti went all in on the rebuild. In the following season, when the Thunder performed better than expected, Presti doubled down and traded the team’s veterans for future assets. 

With SGA and more draft picks than you could count, the Thunder were perfectly set up for a rebuild, but that’s only half the story. They still had to nail their picks, and in two years, they selected Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Josh Giddey, Tre Mann, and Aaron Wiggins. All five are key contributors on this year’s Thunder team or were traded for win-now pieces.

Any GM that wants to replicate the rebuild of another team should look no further than the Thunder. Not every team has the starting assets of the Thunder, but every team has the chance to dive head-first into a rebuild, trading away every veteran player in exchange for picks. The biggest benefit of this rebuild strategy is that it’s guaranteed to get you multiple chances at the best young talent in basketball. The downside is that you have to nail a few picks to start winning, and too many teams end up stuck at the bottom of the league because they can’t evaluate talent.

New York Knicks

Unlike the Thunder, the Knicks rebuilt their team by finding value in places others overlooked. They’re one of the only teams to try rebuilding through free agency, as they signed Julius Randle, Jalen Brunson, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Donte DiVincenzo for below-market deals. Additionally, they supplemented these free-agent acquisitions with high-level contributors in the draft outside of the lottery. Mitchell Robinson, Immanuel Quickley, and Miles McBride were all taken between picks 25 and 36.

The Knicks’ plan, in the grand scheme of things, was to accumulate good players and become a solid team so that, when the next superstar was looking for a new home, the Knicks would be an easy place to look (think of the Clippers before they landed Kawhi Leonard). However, no one could foresee Jalen Brunson becoming a superstar himself. And like any good front office would, the Knicks completely shifted their plans around him. Instead of trading for a number one scoring option, they traded for complementary pieces around Brunson, such as OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Karl-Anthony Towns.

In theory, the Knicks’ method of rebuilding is one of the hardest paths to take. Instead of going all in on tanking for high draft picks, they tried slowly improving while adding at the margin. This strategy is great for large markets, where they know players are likely to flock. It also allows a team to stay interesting during a rebuild, as the Knicks had multiple playoff appearances before they put together a championship-contending roster. The downside is that it’s easy to stay right where you started — in mediocrity.

Cleveland Cavaliers

After LeBron James left the Cavs in 2018, carrying a mediocre team to the NBA Finals in his final season, a rebuild was clearly needed. Without any young talent on the roster, the Cavs had to lean on the draft, where they landed two major building blocks, Evan Mobley and Darius Garland. While the draft started the rebuild, however, Cavs President Koby Altman was much more reliant on the trade market. He picked up Lauri Markkanen and Jarrett Allen for relatively nothing, both of whom would likely demand multiple first-round picks in a deal now.

Where the Cavs separate themselves from the Thunder and the Knicks, though, is that they weren’t contenders until they made their final move, putting all of their chips in the middle. In trading for Donovan Mitchell, Altman transformed the Cavs into a juggernaut with two capable lead guards and two dominant rim protectors.

Out of every rebuilding strategy, trading for a star before you become a contender is the riskiest. By trading away future picks, you’re limiting your roster flexibility and locking in your core pieces. If the trade fails, you may be stuck with multiple first-round exits and another rebuild a few years away, this time, without your own draft picks. However, as long as this star player stays valuable, relatively young, and out of free agency, the team will always be able to trade him for different assets. It’s a question of how confident you are in your roster and how likely a player will maintain their value.