The Oklahoma City Thunder ended its season in heartbreaking fashion, losing in six games to the Dallas Mavericks in a game decided by a foul on a corner three with less than two seconds left that would lead to Dallas escaping with the series-clinching win.
Despite the 2023-24 season being an undeniable success for OKC, fans have been left desiring more, not wanting to see their favorite franchise fall into the same trap of lackadaisical content that it did last time it had three young stars and what seemed like a world of time on its hands to figure the rest out.
OKC has done the hardest part of roster building — found a true top-5 superstar. One of the biggest things to come out of the playoff run this season was the confirmation that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is truly one of the league’s elite. Many thought he was the best player on the floor during a series in which he was lining up across from Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. SGA’s stardom is now established, it’s not a fluke, or something that falls off come the playoffs, he is truly one of the NBA’s defining players of the next decade.
Outside of SGA, most struggled for some of, if not all, the series against Dallas. Jalen Williams had flashes of brilliance in game one and game six, but overall he performed significantly below the expectations that most had of him. Chet Holmgren was OKC’s second-best player throughout the series, displaying his defensive dominance and making big shots in OKC’s wins, but too often he was no match for fellow rookie Dereck Lively in terms of physicality and hustle.
The role players performed horribly compared to their regular season and first-round showings. As a team, OKC, the best three-point shooting team in the NBA during the regular season, shot 30% on wide-open attempts against the Mavericks, while P.J. Washington and Derrick Jones stepped their games up to another level.
Overall, the series told us a few things that should directly affect roster-building this summer.
Firstly, I want to debunk an idea that has made the rounds on Thunder fan social media platforms. OKC will not and is likely never to, bring in a bruising center and move Holmgren to power forward. Holmgren is a rare shot-blocking prospect, who is a true game-changer when he patrols the paint, and he is the perfect fit for the five-out, run-n-gun style that OKC wants to play during this iteration of its team. Players like Andre Drummond, Nic Claxton, or even Daniel Gafford just don’t fit into how the Thunder wants to play, even if they are impact players elsewhere.
I also want to put out the disclaimer that I don’t see OKC going out and landing a star, at least this summer. OKC has its franchise centerpiece in SGA, someone who compliments himself well and has shown a diverse offensive skillset in Williams, and a burgeoning defensive player of the year candidate in Holmgren who has also shown dribble penetration skills and an ability to shoot 40% from three over prolonged periods. Regardless, with the assets and cap flexibility OKC has this summer, we would be remiss to not discuss the options that could be/are out there for it and the fit of all those options.
So with that being said, let’s get started. I will be breaking stars who could realistically come available or are free agents, and their fits with OKC, on a scale from A to F. At the end, I will break down some other, potentially more realistic targets who I feel would take OKC from a fun, young, fringe-contender, to a full-blown title contender.
A-Tier (The find a way to get it done list)
Kevin Durant
This may be controversial, but just put your feelings to the side and consider the basketball fit for a moment.
Phoenix is in a weird spot. It has one of the most expensive rosters in the NBA and got swept in the first round of a Western Conference playoffs that is only going to become more and more competitive over the next few years with the inevitable emergence of teams like San Antonio, Houston, and Memphis on the horizon. Devin Booker is a franchise icon, who is in his prime, so he isn’t tradable unless a request comes, and Bradley Beal has a no-trade clause that makes him genuinely unmovable barring something weird happening.
On the court, Durant may not be in the discussion for the best player in the world anymore, but he is still an All-NBA level player. Last season, he averaged 27-6-5 on 50-40-85 shooting splits, and he is a solid defensive player, and certainly an upgrade over Josh Giddey or Isaiah Joe on both ends of the floor.
Offensively, Durant remains one of the best tough shot-makers we’ve ever seen grace a basketball court. In the clip above, he has a much younger, very polished defensive player in Naz Reid guarding him with one of the best shot-blockers in NBA history patrolling the paint. At nearly 36, Durant knows he doesn’t have the burst to cook Reid like he used to, and even if he does get by him, Rudy Gobert will be there to meet him at the rim. Instead of working to get past Reid and to the rim, Durant crosses over a few times to get Reid on his toes, before accelerating past him to get Reid on his back hip. Just as the lane to the rim presents itself, Gobert plants himself in the paint, and without a second thought, Durant gives Reid a forearm shiver, before stepping back and creating just enough space to get a shot over Reid.
This display fits perfectly into OKC’s offensive system. While the team’s offense is predicated on ball movement, everyone also gets their chances to create off the bounce a few times a game. In these playoffs, we saw Jalen Williams struggle with creating his own shot on the playoffs, but we also saw the reality of the postseason in the NBA — it always comes down to who can create a makable shot in the closing moments. So often, if it wasn’t SGA, it was no one for OKC, and while Williams is expected to turn into that as soon as next season, OKC would benefit from using the couple of years it has left before Williams and Holmgren sign max contracts to build a built-for-now contender, and Durant does that well.
Durant has thrived in iso-heavy offenses (OKC with Billy Donovan, Phoenix with Frank Vogel) and offenses that swing the rock to create open looks (GSW with Steve Kerr). Durant’s plug-and-play ability makes him one of the most desirable stars in NBA history, and if OKC and Durant could come to the understanding that it’s SGA’s team, and their contractual priorities going forward are to Williams and Holmgren, it could be a match made in heaven.
Durant would slide into Josh Giddey’s spot in the starting lineup, and he is a much more seamless fit than Giddey with OKC’s other stars.
Not to mention, think of the story.
Durant, for as good as he is, is the rare all-timer without a true basketball home. He scorned Oklahoma City the first time around, was brash in his exit from Golden State, only spent 2.5 seasons in Brooklyn, and is off to a rocky start in Phoenix. Maybe that’s fine with Durant. Perhaps he’s comfortable being the greatest hired gun in the history of the NBA, but when you look at his peers, everyone is associated with a certain place. Lebron James, despite leaving, is associated with Cleveland. Steph Curry is obviously associated with Golden State. Westbrook with OKC, Harden with Houston, and Dame with Portland.
If he were to come back to OKC, win a title as a major contributor, as a member of the Thunder, it’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t be embraced with open arms by the city. While a return is unlikely, especially with ownership listening to his public demand for Vogel to be fired, but in the NBA, and especially with Durant, anything is possible.
My offer:
Phoenix gets: Josh Giddey, Lu Dort, Ousmane Dieng, Aaron Wiggins, Miami 2025 1st Top 14 Protected, OKC 2025 1st Unprotected, LAC 2027 Unprotected pick swap, OKC 2029 1st Unprotected
OKC gets: Kevin Durant, Nassir Little
Phoenix may want more than this, but realistically this helps the Suns accomplish two goals.
One, Phoenix gets off of Little’s money and brings back two players in Dieng and Giddey with whom it can extend or use as it pleases. Giddey, Dort, and Wiggins all serve as win-now players who fit around Devin Booker and expand one of the NBA’s weakest rotations. Last season, Phoenix desperately needed a play starter to initiate the offense, and Giddey fits that mold nicely. Dort could serve as the elite defender on the perimeter that Phoenix will need to guard the likes of SGA, Doncic, Irving, Ja Morant, Anthony Edwards, Jamal Murray, and so on and so forth.
Paul George
Yes, another reunion.
This, I see very little chance of happening, but if it did, OKC would successfully stake its claim for the most one-sided trade in NBA history. If OKC could reel George back on a 2-3 year deal, he would be the perfect fit, possibly even more so than Durant.
George’s blend of size, defense, shooting, ball-handling and all the other things that make him the player he is are exactly what the Thunder needs to make itself a true contender.
Now, OKC has literally never signed a high-level free agent, and I don’t expect it to happen, but here, we deal in hypotheticals of potentially available players being seduced by a very real chance to win a title and then leave and sign another max elsewhere.
George has been nothing but complimentary of OKC since leaving, and ironically, his best basketball fit at this stage may be as a co-star to a player like SGA. George has a history of missing games, and that would be fine in OKC as the young guns have shown their abilities to win in the regular season. George could take some games off whenever he felt some tightness and make sure he is ready for the playoffs, where he has been better since heading to the Clippers.
The thing with George is, when he is healthy, a real argument can be made he is still throwing his fastball. Defensively, he can still be elite when the effort is there, although he may not be at the heights he was at on that end in 2019 when he was still in OKC. On the offensive side, he still has one of the smoothest games in the NBA, and every once in a while he will bust out a 360 dunk of a ridiculous step-back three.
George also has more positional versatility than most on this list, as he can easily play anywhere from the two to the four without much drop-off.
In the end, it is likely that George re-ups with the Clippers and helps James Harden and Kawhi Leonard usher in a new era at the multi-billion dollar arena Steve Ballmer just built in Inglewood, but if he wants to add a ring to his list of accomplishments while still being able to play like an all-star, OKC may be the best place for him for the next couple of years.
George, like Durant, brings a level of shooting and size to the forward position that OKC just doesn’t have right now, and both would help to fix OKC’s biggest problem which is clutch rebounding.
While both are unlikely, OKC finding a way to acquire Durant seems much more feasible than signing George as a free agent, but time will tell how Sam Presti decides to use his 30 million dollars of cap space.
If Presti calls up George’s agent and the interest is mutual, Presti should move mountains to get George back in Oklahoma City.
B-Tier (If the price is right, it’s worth a shot)
Lauri Markkanen
He may not be the big name that a Durant or a George would be, but Markkanen is a sparkling example of the new-age OKC forward.
He’s seven feet tall, can put the ball on the floor, rebounds well, and is a knockdown shooter from behind the three-point line, whether it be above the break or from the corner.
On the court, the fit with Markkanen is as seamless as it gets. He has been a role player for most of his career, so he is well-versed in playing on and off ball, but he also has experience being a high-level offensive centerpiece after his last two seasons in Utah.
The only hang-up with Markkanen is the contract. He is entering the final year of his deal and will command a max extension if OKC decides to acquire him. OKC has its own extensions to worry about, with a Giddey decision looming, Isaiah Joe entering the final year of his deal, and Wiggins becoming extension-eligible this offseason assuming OKC decides to pick up his team option. Making a move for Markkanen probably means OKC could not keep one of, if not all of those role players or any role player going forward. It could seriously complicate talks with Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren in a few years, as Markkanen’s hypothetical extension would run into when Williams and Holmgren would be on max deals of their own, not to mention SGA’s deal, which is likely to be extended after next season, will make him the NBA’s first 80 million dollar player in NBA history.
Markkanen’s fit is perfect enough OKC has to have the conversation about risking the future to dramatically increase the odds of a title next season, or if he is worth paying a premium price for a one-year rental. Knowing the track record of Presti and OKC, I would assume the answer to both of those questions would be no.
Utah has not been willing to move Markkanen to this point, and maybe they see him as the next Jazz superstar for the long haul, but Danny Ainge has been hyper-aggressive in every facet of team building in the past, and holding on to Markkenen wouldn’t fit his historic profile of going for a title or bottoming out.
So, if he is made available, OKC should make a call, even if it’s exploratory, and make the following offer if it is are able to find a creative solution to the salary cap problem it will find itself in if it makes a move like this.
Utah gets: Josh Giddey, Aaron Wiggins, Ousmane Dieng, Cason Wallace, No.12 pick, 2025 Miami top-14 protected, 2026 LAC unprotected.
OKC gets: Lauri Markkanen, Jordan Clarkson
This particular trade proposal hinges on Utah’s value of Clarkson, but if it goes in this direction, it would be in the best interest of the Jazz to move off of veterans, and losing Wiggins and Wallace will leave OKC with a hole off the bench at the guard position, and Clarkson is a type of player OKC just doesn’t have on the roster right now.
Utah gets a slew of young players to build around or try and fit around Keyonte George and Walker Kessler, who headline the Jazz’s up-and-comers as of now.
OKC becomes the favorite in the West, and potentially puts itself in salary cap hell, but for at least one season, OKC becomes co-favorites to win the NBA title with Boston.
Brandon Ingram
I know, I know. We just saw Lu Dort turn this guy into a role player over a four-game series, but hear me out.
Set aside that one series, Ingram has never been in a good basketball situation to put his game on full display outside of one season when Zion Williamson was on the shelf and he stayed healthy. In that one season, Ingram averaged 24 points per game on good efficiency, made the all-star team, and won Most Improved Player.
Ingram’s shooting is tough to read. In 2020-21, Ingram shot 38% from three on more than six attempts per game, a figure that could see an uptick due to the higher volume of open shots and good looks he would theoretically get in OKC. But, in 2021-22, he shot just 32% from three on four attempts game, a number that would’ve been the worst of anyone in OKC’s starting lineup this season.
Last season is probably the most accurate portrayal of the shooter than Ingram is. He shot 35% on four attempts a game while playing second fiddle to Williamson, and having no true point guard to get him the ball in good spots.
If Ingram were to come to OKC, some of the playmaking he put on display in the Pelicans series against the Thunder would have to shine through a bit more, but that showed it is in him somewhere to set the plate for his teammates to get good looks, and seeing as he would probably be third in line in OKC’s offense, he would go up against worse defensive players, and get better looks off the advanced playmaking ability of SGA and Williams.
Ingram has hovered just below six assists per game in each of the past three seasons all while playing in an offense that lacks spacing and is a bit clunky at times. In the event OKC could make this happen, I think we would see the best version of Ingram in terms of being a winning basketball player. Being the third or fourth option on a team perfectly suits Ingram, who, as we saw in the playoffs, simply isn’t a number one, or maybe even a number two guy, but as soon as the other team sticks its top three defenders on SGA, Williams and Holmgren, Ingram can look like a game breaker.
Ingram also brings a good amount of size to the equation. He is slight, but Ingram is a very real 6’8 and averaged over five rebounds per game this season.
New Orleans seems destined to move on from Ingram this summer, and with Dort embarrassing him in front of a national audience, this may be the cheapest he will be over the next few years.
The only thing hurting Ingram is his contract, which expires after next season and has a 15% trade kicker. If the price is right, OKC should overlook it and go all in for next season, and hope either it leads to an immediate championship, or Ingram buys in and somehow takes an agreeable contract.
My Offer:
NOLA gets: Josh Giddey, Kenrich Williams, Ousmane Dieng, No.12 pick in 2024 draft, 2025 Philadelphia top six protected, 2025 Miami Top 14 protected
OKC gets: Brandon Ingram, Larry Nance Jr.
With Williamson coming into his own, New Orleans needs to surround him with a team that supports the way he wants to play. Ingram takes too many possessions away, and Nance clogs the paint while not providing the traditional rim protection of a center. With this trade, New Orleans gets a point guard in Giddey, something it has sorely missed since losing Lonzo Ball. Giddey allows C.J. McCollum to move to shooting guard, his more natural position. It’s a weird fit in terms of floor spacing, but Williams gives the Pelicans a solid shooter who can play with Williamson, and Dieng and the picks give New Orleans ammo to go get the style of big man it wants to play with Williamson.
Even if Giddey comes off the bench, it provides them with a true point guard or trade ammunition. Williams can help any team trying to win, even if it didn’t show in this year’s playoffs, and assets allow NOLA to form a good team around Williamson.
The hardest part of this one is finding a package that makes sense to send back to NOLA, which already has players like Williamson, Herb Jones, and Jonas Valanciunas in the rotation, making Giddey kind of a tough fit.
In the event New Orleans is trying to move Ingram this summer, OKC needs to do what it can to get involved, even if that means finding a third team to take Giddey and send someone who is more of a floor spacer back to the Pelicans.
Mikal Bridges
A few months ago, Bridges would have been a lock for the A-Tier, but something about his situation in Brooklyn feels off to me.
Multiple reputable people have alluded to the fact that Brooklyn sees Bridges as a building block, and wants to build around him, not trade him and bottom out. But, ever since acquiring Bridges, Brooklyn has been kind of a mess, a bad team who is full of older role players who’s value are going to begin to dwindle soon. Brooklyn’s best young asset is probably Cam Thomas, who can fill it up but doesn’t do much else, and OKC has been linked to the Nets’ other young standout Claxton, who is set to hit free agency this summer.
Brooklyn’s biggest salaries are Ben Simmons, who is his own can of worms, and Cam Johnson, who is a nice player but fits best in a complementary role, not as a main piece. Others players like Dennis Schroder and Dorian Finney-Smith make Brooklyn’s situation one to monitor this summer, and at the center of all of it is Bridges.
Bridges is on a great contract with multiple seasons left, making him a better fit than Ingram or Markkanen for OKC from a financial standpoint. But, on the court, he leaves just a little bit to be desired for the Thunder specifically. It is likely Bridges would slot in for Josh Giddey if he were traded to OKC, essentially playing the three or the four, but he only stands 6’6. He is a decent, but not great rebounder, as he averaged just over four a game last season. Despite being the man in Brooklyn, he couldn’t crack 20 points per game, and he shot only 43% from the field. He did shoot 37% from three, a number that would likely go up in OKC, where he would be a fourth option at most times assuming Holmgren adds to his offensive game ahead of next season.
Where Bridges would be great for OKC is on the defensive end. He earned his reputation as a lockdown defender with the Suns, and if he were to be slotted back into a position as a high-level role player, one could easily assume he would reach the heights he reached in Phoenix again.
If it is true that Brooklyn wants to build around Bridges and not trade him, than this conversation is obviously mute, but, in the event Brooklyn realizes it needs to start over and acquire some draft capital and young players, OKC and Houston are the obvious fits for Bridges.
Now, Brooklyn already has one big Australian point guard who struggles to shoot, so Giddey may not be a perfect fit, but, involving a third team could get the hypothetical deal done, so walk with me here.
Brooklyn gets: Cason Wallace, Malaki Branham, Devonte’ Graham, No.8 Pick, No.12 Pick, 2025 Utah top-10 protected
San Antonio gets: Josh Giddey, Kenrich Williams
OKC gets: Mikal Bridges, Zach Collins
San Antonio gets someone who can actually play point guard for Victor Wembenyama along with a quality role player it can flip at the trade deadline or keep around, similarly to what OKC did in the form of Williams, and it gets off the contracts of Graham and Collins, opening up even more cap space to add some free agents this summer. Brooklyn gets a fresh reset, landing two lottery picks in this year’s draft and a Utah pick that is likely to convey in 2026, along with a young building block in Cason Wallace and an interesting guard in Branham, as well as an expiring contract in Graham. And finally, OKC gets someone who it can control for two seasons, which happen to be the two seasons in which Williams and Holmgren will be on their rookie deals, and someone who has been in the finals before as a key member of the team, and a big man who wouldn’t play a huge role, but does have playoff experience dating back to his time in Portland in Collins. Brooklyn could realistically want a little more due to the lackluster quality of this draft, but with Brooklyn being a team with very little in terms of assets, this one makes sense for everyone in my eyes.
C-Tier (Answer the phone, but probably hang up)
Julius Randle
Randle would be an intriguing pickup for OKC in a few ways. He fills the need for a power forward that OKC desperately needs to fill. He has played in lots of playoff games. He is an underrated scorer and rebounder, as he averaged 24-9 for New York last season, and he attempts to space the floor, as he has taken over five threes per game each of the last two seasons. Randle is also a good passer, which fits the identity of the team, and he has a contract that lines up with OKC’s interests.
Now, for the negatives.
He may shoot the three, but he doesn’t exactly knock ’em down from the outside. He shot 31% last season, and 34% the season before on over eight attempts per game. In 2020, he shot 41% from deep, but it has become clear since that season that it was an outlier. He has dealt with injuries throughout his career. Following the healthiest three-year span of his career, Randle played only 46 games for the Knicks this season. He has also been a malcontent at times in the past, including one season in New York when fans chanted him off the floor. Randle is also a minus defender, who offers little rim protection despite playing the four or five for all of his career.
All in all, I can see both sides of the argument. If the only thing being discussed is Randle as a player and a contract figure he is a good fit, but when things like attitude concerns and what New York would want in return come into play, I get more skeptical.
I do think Randle is a very good NBA player, who in the right situation, one I would argue he is already in, can contribute to winning at a high level when healthy. If I’m New York, I look at all the injuries my team had in the regular season and playoffs, I look at the fact that for the first time since Patrick Ewing was in town, the Knicks are cool again, and I make the decision to run it back unless something too good to be true pops up.
The trio of Jalen Brunson, Randle, and OG Anunoby hardly played together this season, and I think moving off of it would be a mistake.
That being said, if you have made it to this point of the article, you are here for trades, so I will throw one out that could make sense for all sides, and it once again involves a third team, because a package of picks and young players doesn’t do a ton for a New York team that is trying to compete for the east.
New York gets: Mikal Bridges, Kenrich Williams
Brooklyn gets: Josh Giddey, Jericho Sims, Ousmane Dieng, Aaron Wiggins, No.12 Pick, No.24 Pick, No.38 Pick, 2025 Miami top-14 protected, 2027 Denver top-5 protected
OKC gets: Julius Randle, Dorian Finney-Smith
To be clear, I give this exact trade a less than 1% chance of happening, but when searching for a trade that makes all parties happy, this is the closest I could get.
Brooklyn revamps with a slew of future picks and gets young players to toy with during what would be a long rebuilding process, all while clearing its books to bring guys like Claxton back into the fold without worrying about the luxury tax. New York adds the final infinity stone to the Nova-Knicks gauntlet and gets a player who is a little bit better fit than Randle alongside Brunson. OKC gets two players to elevate its standing in the championship picture and fill a position of need, but it costs them three future firsts and two role players with upside in Giddey and Wiggins, along with a seasoned vet in Williams.
If this call gets made and this trade gets proposed, I think OKC and Brooklyn probably hang up the phone, but needless to say, welcome to the C-Tier.
Jarrett Allen
Cleveland has a problem, and in the eyes of many so does OKC. Fortunately for most people partaking in this purely speculative exercise of making up trades, they can easily solve those problems for one another, at least on the surface.
OKC’s loudest issue this past season was rebounding. So many times it felt as if in the waning moments of an important game, the scrawny Holmgren and whatever 6’6 or shorter guy happened to be playing the four at the time couldn’t bring down a board. Cleveland on the other hand wants to be more like OKC, with the playoffs making clear that Evan Mobley is a center, and playing him at power forward has been, and will continue to be, a disservice to his development.
So, Allen is expected to be moved by many, alongside guard Darius Garland if Donovan Mitchell (two guards who could be traded this summer, but won’t be included in this article for obvious reasons) re-ups with Cleveland.
Allen is a traditional big in the sense of the phrase, and a very good one at that. He is a beast in the rebounding department, a solid rim protector, and a physical presence down low. All that being said, I would despise this move if OKC were to make it, and here is why.
With a guy like Allen, you have to start him. He is an all-star level player, one of the ten best centers in the NBA when healthy, and he makes a lot of money. The issue with all of that is, I am a believer in Chet Holmgren the center, and we just saw what the presence of Allen does to rookie centers who flash generational rim-protection ability with Mobley. After his rookie season, Mobley was considered one of the NBA’s next stars. He had a solid game offensively that needed development, but his bread was buttered around the rim on the defensive end. Holmgren is a lot farther along than Mobley is offensively even now, but pulling him away from the rim on defense for even one possession is a failure to capitalize on Holmgren’s truly special skill — his rim protection.
After seeing the struggles of the Allen-Mobley experiment unfold on the biggest stage two years in a row, I think OKC would be best suited to avoid Allen with a ten-foot-pole unless the price was so unbelievably cheap you couldn’t walk away, and I just don’t see that happening. OKC fans, rebounding may just be a struggle for this iteration of the Thunder, just like outside shooting was the bugaboo for the last great Thunder team.
Either way, whether they plan to solve the issue with an outside transaction or not, I think the rebounding issue is best solved by either letting the very young players on OKC mature physically and naturally progress in that area, or go get a cheaper role player who can play in spots and easily be taken off the floor in big moments if it is called for.
Here is an offer that could be discussed if OKC decides to make a move for Allen, but I consider those chances to be very low.
Cleveland gets: Aaron Wiggins, Kenrich Williams, No.12 Pick, 2027 Denver top-5 protected
OKC gets: Jarrett Allen
If any Cleveland fans get to this point of this article, I apologize, but I just don’t see OKC trading multiple desirable assets to get a player who would undoubtedly hinder the long-term development of Holmgren for short-term gain. Cleveland needs good three and D players to fill in around Mitchell at the one, and Mobley at the five, and I think Wiggins provides that at a great price and a high level, and Williams does so at a passable level, and has experience playing small-ball five in the event Mobley has to miss time.
Allen is worth more than that, but not necessarily to OKC, and I think a trade elsewhere makes much more sense for everyone involved.
My conclusion
Unless a trade for Durant or Bridges presents itself for the right price, I would be hard up to trade for any of them for a variety of reasons. Contracts, fit, asking price, whatever it may be, I think going after a star would be short-sighted, and if there is anything Sam Presti is not, it’s short-sighted.
I think role players like Robert Williams III, Deni Avdija, Finney-Smith, Patrick Williams, and others make more sense and are more realistic than anyone listed above. However, it’s fun to dream, and if one of these guys makes their way to OKC, it would be fun, but, I’ll believe it when I see it.
Williams III’s availability could depend on who Portland ends up using the seventh and fourteenth picks on. Rumors have linked them to UConn’s Donovan Clingan, and with Deandre Ayton on the books for a few more seasons, adding another center to the fold could leave Williams III without a place in the rotation.
Washington would be wise to keep Avdija until next year’s trade deadline, so he may be more of a pipe dream for fans than a reality, but if he is available OKC should see what his market is. Finney-Smith, like Bridges, is being held hostage by Brooklyn, but there is no reason why a team with the assets that OKC has couldn’t pry him loose.
Lastly, Patrick Williams. Williams is slated to be a restricted free agent and has had what can only be described as an odd first four seasons in Chicago. The Bulls are by no means the gold standard for development, but the star upside Williams was once thought of having seems to be out the window. However, he has turned into a player who is a good fit as a fifth starter for a playoff team. He is elite on the defensive end, and he can shoot the ball well from three, especially from the corners.
Hypothetically, Williams is the complete opposite of Giddey. He doesn’t have Giddey’s elite feel for the game and passing ability, nor the prowess in transition that Giddey has, but he brings elite defense and will eliminate the issue of people leaving OKC’s fifth starter completely wide open. He is probably a worse rebounder than Giddey, but his three and D abilities are a necessity for every NBA team in 2024.
Williams being an RFA makes things a little more complicated, but I’m sure that OKC could make a move for Williams if it really wanted to.
In short, the best fit for OKC may be someone who can stand in the corners and play defense and doesn’t take possessions away from SGA, Jalen Williams, or the evolutionary version of Chet Holmgren.
OKC is sure to do something this offseason after a disappointing playoff loss, but I’m not sure that move is to make a huge splash.
