OKC Thunder: The Hamidou Diallo trade conspiracy

Perhaps the decision to trade Hamidou Diallo was more than just the OKC Thunder looking to rebuild

Though it’s now been a couple of days since the OKC Thunder opted to trade one of their top players thus far into the 2020-21 season in Hamidou Diallo, we at Thunderous Intentions are still pondering on the reasons as to why such a move was made.

We understand that many are under the impression that the logic points to Sam Presti and co. steering more into their desired franchise rebuild but, at the young age of 22-years-old, the wing actually fits the timeline in which many organizations highly covet when in the midst of such a future-oriented plan.

When discussing my curiosity with Site Co-Expert Tamberlyn Richardson, she encouraged me to dig a little deeper for potential reasons as to why Diallo now finds himself residing in Motor City and, when sifting through the information, a broader story seemingly begins to connect itself.

With this, we present to you the Hamidou Diallo trade conspiracy:

OKC Thunder conspiracy theory No. 1) Hami playing out of Presti’s price range?

As we alluded to earlier, Hamidou Diallo was in the midst of a career year with the OKC Thunder.  Through 32 games played, the third-year pro posted per-game averages of11.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and a steal per game on 48 percent shooting from the field.

With his production coupled with his youthful age, one could certainly argue that Hami should have been seen as a building block for this Oklahoma City squad as they head towards the future.

However, front offices are tasked with viewing all angles of a specific narrative — in other words, perhaps Presti pondered on the future with Diallo in tow and deemed it “too costly” to keep him moving past this season.

Currently in the final year of his rookie-scale contract, the shooting guard will inevitably be hitting the restricted free-agent market come the conclusion of this season. Though on the surface his high-level production this year has been a positive for the team, in the end, what his play is doing is actually shooting up his potential asking price once negotiations start for his next league contract.

Being in charge of the books, Presti very likely could have had a set price he’d be willing to pay come the offseason in order to keep Diallo around but, with his play, he may have been under the impression that the money could easily exceed his range and, instead of playing musical chairs, he just opted to bypass the headache and shipped him off to at least get something in return.

OKC Thunder conspiracy theory No. 2) Is home calling to Diallo?

Another aspect that relates to the wing’s impending free agency is the matter of who might the OKC Thunder be going up against in regard to signing him and, to a greater extent, where might his heart ultimately be leaning towards in regard to his preferred destinations.

Though he recently referred to Oklahoma City as ‘the place I call home’ in a social media post thanking Thunder nation, “home” for Diallo is actually New York.

While this, too, may not necessarily seem to be an indicator as to where he may prefer to sign, when one digs a bit deeper you’d find that, since coming into the league back in 2018, the two teams in which he always seems to shine the brightest whilst going up against are the Knicks and the Nets.

Looking at his career average numbers against both of these ball clubs, we find that Hami posts some of his best all-around stat lines, and they read as follows:

New York Knicks Stats: 12.3 points, 5.5 rebounds on 56 FG% & 60 3FG%

Brooklyn Nets Stats: 12.5 points, three rebounds, 1.5 assists, one steal on 54 FG% & 38 3FG%

Perhaps just a coincidence — heck, all of these points could be just that –, but even this season we saw Hamidou Diallo’s best game come against the Knicks, where he dropped 23 points and 11 boards on 62 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent shooting from deep.

In short, it has seemed that the majority of his top-notch performances have come against both teams from New York’s favorite boroughs.

OKC Thunder conspiracy theory No. 3) Troy Weaver having inside knowledge

Lastly, we are left with the question: why the Pistons?

This one, in our eyes, is perhaps the easiest one to find an answer for. As things currently stand, Detroit’s General Manager is Troy Weaver who, as many of you may already know, was with the OKC Thunder from 2008 to 2019, serving as both an Assistant General Manager and Vice President.

Already in tow, we see former Thunder forward Jerami Grant leading the show with the Pistons, who was someone thought to have been relatively ‘overpaid’ this past offseason but has since debunked this narrative with his stupendous play.

Weaver had a lot to do with this signing and, in turn, likely had a lot to do with last week’s trade.

Now, with Diallo on the roster, it seems somewhat clear that the GM wishes to bring aboard some players that he saw value in during his tenure with the Thunder.

In this league, there are typically underlying reasons for why things happen that, upon first glance, don’t seem to jump right off the page.

In relation to the Hamidou Diallo trade, these aforementioned topics are simply just fun talking points we managed to dig up.

In the end, we at TI along with the team’s fanbase enjoyed the time in which Hami spent with the Thunder and wish him nothing but the best now that he’s suiting up for the Pistons.