Thunder Working The Phones As Trade Deadline Approaches
By Randy Renner, Senior Writer
The NBA’s trade deadline arrives at 2 o’clock in Oklahoma and as they have in years past the Thunder and GM Sam Presti will be working the phones right up to that moment.
The Thunder are a bit limited right now in what they can offer teams, namely a first round 2017 draft pick. The Thunder have the pick but because their 2018 first rounder is already with the Utah Jazz from the Enes Kanter trade OKC cannot make that 2017 pick part of a deal.
The NBA doesn’t allow teams to trade away first round picks in consecutive seasons.
Most of the teams the Thunder have been talking to want a first round pick, especially for this year, in return. Plus a player or two depending on the deal.
The Denver Nuggets haven’t budged off a 2017 first-rounder (at least) in return for Wilson Chandler so the Thunder have now put any deal for Chandler on the back burner.
According to ESPN’s Marc Stein the Thunder are talking to the Chicago Bulls about power forward Taj Gibson. ESPN’s Royce Young also points out OKC has interest in the Bulls wing Doug McDermott (Chicago’s best 3-point shooter).
Other possible targets according to various national reports are Lakers guard Nick Young and Kings guard Arron Afflalo.
Gibson is on an expiring contract and will become an unrestricted free agent. He’s making $8.95 million this season. Gibson is a power forward, not the wing player we’ve heard the Thunder are hoping to obtain. He’s a career 49.5 percent shooter but seldom shoots from beyond the arc and when he does he usually always misses (career 8.8 percent from deep).
But Gibson is solid, averaging 11.6 points this season on 52.1 percent shooting, both numbers better than his career averages. And his 7.0 rebounds a game this season are also more than his career average.
Gibson is a starter for the Bulls and he and Steven Adams could form an imposing presence down low. But what about rookie Domas Sabonis? Would he still be on the team? Still start? Not known at this point but it’s hard to imagine OKC giving up on him plus there’s no guarantee Gibson would re-up.
Young and Afflalo are both good 3-point shooters. Young has hit 37.3 percent from beyond the arc over his career and this season is swishing 41.3 percent of his attempts from back there. But Young aka "Swaggy P" would bring a lot of baggage with him and that’s something the Thunder usually shy away from.
Afflalo’s name has come up before when talking Thunder trades and free agency. He’s a career 38.5 percent 3-point shooter and this season he’s pretty much right on that number at 39.0 percent.
McDermott is still on his rookie deal and is hitting 37.6 percent of his threes this season which is down from his career average of 39.9 percent.
Who would OKC be sending away in any of these deals? And could one deal quickly lead to another? With Presti one thing we’ve learned over these years is that almost anything is possible.
We’ll update the website as we move through the day and you can follow me on Twitter @RandyRenner for the very latest from Thunderland.