Trading places: OKC Thunder top 5 trade deadline deals

Enes Kanter:

In two seasons with the OKC Thunder, Enes Kanter built what became a life-long friendship with the franchise. To this day, he remains best friends with Steven Adams, and together, they remain “Stache Bros” for life.

The Thunder acquired Kanter in 2015, along with DJ Augustin, Steve Novak and Kyle Singler in a three-team deal, sending Kendrick Perkins and Grant Jerrett to Utah, and Reggie Jackson to Detroit.

At the time, Thunder fans were upset with Jackson for wanting to be traded away from the team which had drafted him. In hindsight, however, it worked out well for the Thunder.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs6U8gTAxd9/

Jackson’s career appeared to be ready to take off, but an injury with the Pistons set him back and he doesn’t seem to be returning to his old self. Meanwhile, the Thunder received two excellent years from Enes Kanter who was in the conversation for Sixth Man of the Year. And even though Steve Novak never really found a spot in the rotation, having him on retainer was nice when we needed to shoot our way back into a game.

Singler, on the other hand, is someone we could have done without. But in reality, trading for Singler wasn’t the issue. The mistake was re-signing him to a five-year, $25-million deal which the Thunder are still paying off. Can’t win them all I guess.