Thunder in the News: Avery Bradley dreams have ended

The Avery Bradley trade spoiled a chance for the OKC Thunder to acquire an elite perimeter defender. Now what can they do?

Happy game day Thunder Nation! Oklahoma City is currently influx – they’ve immensely improved as a team, but Andre Roberson’s injury makes it difficult to assess just how far this team is going to go. Because of that, we’re focusing all of today’s Thunder in the News on the biggest Trade Deadline story lines.

Bradley not an option for OKC

It’s a shame that Sam Presti couldn’t swoop in to make the Blake Griffin blockbuster a three-team deal. If you follow our Twitter account you’re aware that I believe Avery Bradley was the best available option in terms of skill and value. Now that Bradley is off the table I/Presti am forced to rewire our brains and look towards other potential options.

"The Los Angeles Clippers traded superstar forward Blake Griffin to the Detroit Pistons on Monday in exchange for Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, Boban Marjanovic, a 2018 protected first-round pick and a 2019 second-round selection."

So now what’s their move?

That’s the question we will find out over the next coming days. Until then all we can do is speculate, which is what Tim Bontemps does in his piece. I don’t want to spoil Tim’s analysis because it’s pretty spot-on to what I believe Presti’s going to do. Just know this: the buyout market is going to be juicier than what you might believe.

"The Thunder almost always makes some kind of a move at the deadline. In an effort to convince George to stay, it might do so again."

I’ll tell you who isn’t the answer

And finally, we look at a Lawrence George piece from a couple weeks ago. The #1 target on virtually every Thunder fan’s mind is Lou Williams. I thought it would be a sound decision to attempt to acquire Lou pre-Roberson injury, but now that OKC’s defensive anchor is gone I am incredibly anti-Lou. As much as the Thunder need a bench scorer, they desperately need an above-average wing defender to compliment Paul George. Oklahoma City was always going to contend because of their defense, and with a vastly improved offense the past few weeks, it’s difficult to see how Lou’s offense off the bench would be more valuable than a defense-minded player.

"The former sixth man of the year is having a career year, averaging 22.2 points and 4.9 assists while shooting 40.4 percent from three."

Next: Previewing tonight's matchup in Washington

That’s it for today’s issue of Thunder in the News! If you want more Oklahoma City coverage, we’ve got more than the state has flat land. All you have to do is visit our homepage and you’ll stumble upon everything this wonderful website has to offer.