OKC Thunder: 2023 Trade Deadline Primer

It’s trade deadline day, as teams all around the league are exploring ways to better position their rosters either now or for the future.

While the Oklahoma City Thunder front office has the assets to pull off nearly any trade it wants to, it’s much too early to be making a big splash given the current stage of the rebuild.

How They Got Here

Oklahoma City has been one of the most surprising teams in the league this season, sitting on a record of 26-28 with a clear line of sight into the play-in tournament. On the flip side, the Thunder are less than two games out of having top six lottery odds.

This puts them in an interesting spot, especially as the trade deadline rapidly approaches.

There’s a number of directions the team can go, but the reality is this season will end up being a success regardless. The Thunder have found their star in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and several other young pieces have emerged as legitimate pieces of the core as the rebuild continues.

What They Need To Do

Oklahoma City could be a buyer or seller today, but could just as easily opt to do nothing. That’s the luxury of letting a rebuild play out, especially for a franchise that has a ridiculous amount of draft capital moving forward.

It’s pretty unlikely the Thunder make a splash at the deadline, but could be marginal buyers. Oklahoma City GM Sam Presti generally only makes moves when he has leverage, so he’ll without a doubt be active on the phones as 3:00 p.m. ET approaches exploring options.

If there’s a team that wants to shed salary, needs to add depth at a different position or wants to move off of a player before they hit free agency, Presti could capitalize.

From the Thunder’s standpoint, the clear position of need is at center. Although Chet Holmgren will make his debut next season after recovering from his foot injury, adding depth at the position would help this season and moving forward.

This team has been extremely competitive all season long, even without a true full-time starting center. From a development standpoint and just to see how good this young team could be, trading for a big could be a smart move.

What players might fit that description that could be acquired without giving up too much?

• Mo Bamba
• Nerlens Noel
• Richaun Holmes
• Day’Ron Sharpe
• Nick Richards
• Zeke Nnaji
• James Wiseman
• Thomas Bryant
• Moussa Diabate
• Isaiah Hartenstein
• Daniel Gafford

Again, Oklahoma City has so much draft capital that it could make any of these deals happen.

Additionally, there’s a few players on the Thunder’s roster that will be attractive targets for opposing teams leading up to this afternoon. The two most notable are veterans Kenrich Williams and Mike Muscala, although they’re both viewed as key pieces on and off the floor in OKC. It would take a pretty significant offer for Presti to consider moving off of them.

A more likely scenario would be a trade involving Darius Bazley, who’s set to earn a new contract this offseason and may not be part of the long-term plans. If the Thunder think a fair contract may not he agreed to, trading him now is their best bet.

Best-Case Scenario

Presti finds a way to add a big for pennies on the dollar to give this young team a paint presence the rest of the season and potentially beyond.

Worst-Case Scenario

The Thunder make an impulse move in attempt to expedite the rebuild too early. Luckily, Presti has made it clear this won’t happen.