Grade the trade: Thunder take West over, shun Warriors in blockbuster deal
Grade the trade: Thunder take West over, shun Warriors in blockbuster deal
A wild trade to cement OKC’s status as a Western
Conference powerhouse. Despite having the
second-youngest roster in the NBA, the
Oklahoma City Thunder finished as the top seed
in the fiercely competitive Western Conference
the previous season. In addition to Jalen
Williams making a significant sophomore jump
and Chet Holmgren placing second in the Rookie
of the Year vote, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
emerged as a legitimate MVP candidate. This
summer, Sam Presti has finally taken a proactive
approach to team-building, rather than resting
on their laurels. OKC isn’t going to wait around to
survey the league and see what happens. As they
should, the Thunder are currently playing like a
club committed to winning everything.
The amazing thing about OKC’s rebuild is their
ability to assemble a competitive roster in the
near future while preserving long-term
sustainability and flexibility. The trade of Josh
Giddey for Alex Caruso was a historic robbery,
and Isaiah Hartenstein’s departure from the New
York Knicks solves OKC’s main defensive flaw—a
lack of physicality in the paint and on the boards.
OKC is now near the top, if not at the top, of the
Western Conference standings thanks to these
changes. My guess for the NBA Finals matchup
for the upcoming season is Celtics vs. Thunder.
Nevertheless, OKC continues to possess the
league’s largest pool of potential draft selections.
as well as plenty of young talent to float in trade
conversations. Even better, OKC still has the
financial flexibility to accommodate a max
contract. A new trade proposal from Greg Swartz
of Bleacher Report has OKC boosting its title
claim and one-upping the Golden State Warriors
with a blockbuster acquisition of Utah Jazz All-
Star Lauri Markkanen.
Here are the full details.
Thunder-Jazz trade to pair Lauri Markkanen and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, flatline Warriors
|
---|
Lauri Markkanen (27, Wing) |
Utah Jazz receive… |
---|
Nikola Topic (18, Guard) |
Ousmane Dieng (21, Wing) |
Kenrich Williams (29, Wing) |
2025 first-round pick (UTA) |
2027 first-round pick (OKC) |
2029 first-round pick (OKC) |
2026 second-round pick (OKC) |
2027 second-round pick (OKC) |
2028 second-round pick (OKC) |
Markkanen is due $18 million this season and
becomes eligible for a max extension in August.
OKC would need to plan around that inevitable
pay raise, while also accounting for Holmgren
and J-Dub’s inevitable rookie-scale max contracts
in a couple years. This OKC core will get
expensive eventually, especially if Wallace, Topic,
and all these lotto picks hit. That is the case for
OKC not cashing in their NBA Draft treasure
trove. The best way to circumvent the
restrictions of the new collective bargaining
agreement is to add contributors on four-year
rookie contracts. And yet, competitive windows
don’t stay open forever, even for teams in OKC’s
exceedingly unique position. The NBA is always
unpredictable. There’s no guarantee that OKC
can actually keep this group together for a
decade. As such, gunning for it now is a
reasonable, maybe even an essential approach.
Markkanen moves the needle in a big way,
adding one of the NBA’s best shooters and play-
finishers to a lineup brimming with rim-pressure
guards and high-level creators.
Markkanen is a true 7-footer who can wheel it
around screens into movement 3s, attack seams
in the defense as a straight-line driver, and
weaponize his size to score over mismatches.
Although he’s not much of a passer or even a
self-creator, OKC doesn’t really need that. He can
highlight the Thunder’s core while playing to his
strengths and thriving. For the Jazz, Topic is a
fantastic possibility, but Dieng will require a few
more years to develop. In a future trade, Kenrich
Williams might potentially acquire one or more
additional second-round picks. All that’s needed
to truly sweeten the pot would be a bit extra, be
it Cason Wallace or a couple extra first-round
selections. It is conceivable that a competitive
market could raise prices to Utah’s advantage.
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