11 best OKC Thunder acquisitions in franchise 11-year history

OKC Thunder acquires Enes Kanter, Steve Novak, D.J. Augustin, Kyle Singler, and a 2019 second-round pick:

By the trade deadline in February of 2015, it was becoming apparent Reggie Jackson had to go. He didn’t want to be in OKC, he wasn’t happy coming off the bench, and it was doing zero good for the team at the time. Basically, Jackson was becoming too big for his britches.

The Thunder wisely sent him packing and got a pretty good haul for him. Enes Kanter was the main acquisition in the trade and he had some of, if not the, best years of his career in OKC. He averaged 14.2 points and eight rebounds per game in his two and a half years as OKC’s backup center. For comparison’s sake, in Jackson’s best season with the Thunder, he put up 13.1 points, 4.1 assists, and 3.9 rebounds per game as the backup point guard.

Kanter ended up being a great locker room guy with the Thunder and still often shows love to OKC. The big man wasn’t known for his defensive prowess, but he was definitely a better teammate than Jackson and played a vital role as OKC’s top offensive option off the bench.

One additional thing to point out that did downgrade this trade a little in hindsight was the first-round pick OKC sent to Utah turned into Josh Okogie who is looking like a great young player who could develop into one of the better defenders in the league.

But again, this happened years down the road and you really never know if those picks are going to be a hit or miss. OKC thought it was worth the gamble to get a guy like Kanter and ship Jackson out of town. This trade still seems like a win overall for OKC.