The OKC Thunder trade Chris Paul to the Phoneix Suns in a deal involving six players and the Suns 2022 first-round draft pick.
The first trade of the offseason has taken place with the OKC Thunder finalizing a block buster deal that will send Chris Paul to the Phoenix Suns.
Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news of the deal which is said to include Abdel Nader leaving OKC with Paul. Just as we noted in our article early this morning – there was no way Sam Presti wasn’t going to get the best package he could for Paul and it sure seems like he delivered.
Chris Paul heads to Phoenix as part of OKC Thunder blockbuster trade
As initially rumored the key players coming back to the Thunder are Kelly Oubre and Ricky Rubio however that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Two youngsters Ty Jerome and arguably the dark horse part of the trade Jalen Lecque are also coming to Oklahoma City.
And the piece d’ resistence is the Suns 2022 first-round draft pick. The pick is top 12 protected in 2022, top 10 protected in 2023 , top eight in 2024 and becomes unprotected if it hasn’t been conveyed by 2025.
Nine-year NBA vet Ricky Rubio provided a calming voice to the Suns youngsters paving the way for the Chris Paul upgrade. He started 65 games for the Suns averaging 13.0 points, 8.8 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 31.0 minutes per contest.
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In his fifth season Kelly Oubre played 56 games as the starting small forward averaging 34.5 minutes per game registering 18.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.3 steals.
Shooting guards Ty Jerome and Jalen Lecque will fit the repositioning era of the Thunder. Jerome will have a chance to fit in with the reserve unit while Lecque will create competition for the wing with existing Thunder wings Hamidou Diallo and Terrance Ferguson.
We’ll dive in deeper to the players coming to the OKC Thunder in the coming days. As a heads up we’ll likely prioritize the draft as Sam Presti undoubtedly will make more moves in the coming days. Once the dust settles we’ll analyze the fit of the incoming players, grade the trade and look at the shift in the roster.
The belief is Dennis Schroder will also be traded this week to the Lakers.
We’ll miss Chris Paul in OKC but wish him well in Phoenix and thank him for one of the best season ever here in Thunder Nation.