OKC Thunder: 3 George Hill deadline deals to pursue
By Mark Nilon
The OKC Thunder come into the second half of the 2020-21 season with some big decisions to make.
Though they’ve managed to impress through the first 36 games of action, and have swayed some fans from wanting to see the team tank, ultimately Sam Presti and co. must decide what path they wish to embark on for the rest of this year’s campaign.
According to rumblings across the league, perhaps the most likely scenario is that Oklahoma City will stear more into their rebuild to try and nab themselves a top-tier selection in this upcoming draft and, in turn, trade away some of their more impactful veteran assets.
Arguably their most highly touted seasoned commodity is veteran floor general, George Hill who, according to Shams Charania, is a ‘hot commodity’ across opposing front offices.
The OKC Thunder should consider dangling George Hill at the deadline
Recently, we here at TI penned a piece discussing 3 different teams that could be interested in trading for the OKC Thunder veteran and, much to our liking, the reception from you all was quite positive — we love you guys.
Doubling down on this specific topic, today we present to you 3 trades with these respective teams that Oklahoma City’s front office should pursue:
Trade No. 1) George Hill heads to Philadelphia, OKC Thunder land a first-rounder
First on the list, we find the Philadelphia 76ers landing the 34-year-old point guard to help bolster their backcourt and, in turn, better fill out their roster to complement their stars in Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Tobias Harris.
This team is in a win-now mode and Hill is a win-now commodity, having seen deep playoff runs in each of the past three seasons, one of which (2018) even found him logging minutes in the NBA Finals.
Because of this mentality, and their current status as the best team in the Eastern Conference standings as well as boasting the third-best record (24-12) in the entire association, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that General Manager Elton Brand would be willing to part with their upcoming first-rounder that, in all likelihood, will be one of, if not the very last pick.
To make the numbers work, we see the expiring deals of veteran forward Mike Scott and the underutilized and, frankly, underperforming fourth-year center Tony Bradley whom, after the season wraps, Presti may even wish to entertain the idea of re-signing him, as he’s still only 23 with impressive size (6-10, with a 7-5 wingspan).