T-minus nine games till the official start to the offseason for the OKC Thunder, and fans couldn’t be more excited for what the team has in store.
Though the bulk of the hard work may be over with, as the franchise already has their cornerstone in place in third-year guard, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Sam Presti and co. still have a ways to go in order to get Oklahoma City out from the bottom of the standings and thrust them back into legitimate title contention status.
To many, the proper way for the organization to go about this is via the draft, as they’ve proven capable of building note-worthy rosters in the past through such means — OKC managed to nab Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden in consecutive drafts for God’s sake.
However, there are some (admittedly, including ourselves to a certain extent) who believe that, due to the fact that the team will be flush with draft capital through the year 2027 (34 picks combined including a potential total of 17 first-rounder), trading some of said assets may not be the worst idea for the front office to consider.
In fact, Bleacher Report is under the impression that one specific trade involving picks and salary matches could be a “quick-fix” worth pondering on if you’re Presti.
The main draw of B/R’s concocted deal: landing All-Star guard, Bradley Beal.
The exact details of the proposed trade by writer, Zach Buckley, read as follows:
B/R believes trading for Bradley Beal could “fix” the OKC Thunder
The league’s leading scorer at 31.3 points per game, Beal finds himself trapped on the middling Washington Wizards, and has been in purgatory with the franchise over the last three seasons or so.
Holding the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference with a record of 21-41, the team’s most likely route to breaking their two-year postseason drought will be via the play-in tournament where, in all likelihood, they’ll be trounced before the real tournament begins or, if they somehow make it to the top-8, they’ll be a one-and-done exit.
Should this happen, instead of just looking to “run it back” come 2021-22 and keep their position as an average team (at best), Washington’s front office could find themselves just looking to embark on their own franchise rebuild which, in turn, would mean shopping their prized jewel in Beal.
If this were to become a reality, and the guard winds up hitting the trade block, the asking price would obviously be quite high, leaving only a select few teams with the capability of striking up an offer worthwhile.
The OKC Thunder would easily be one of those teams if they so choose to partake in such discussions.
The article would go on to cite the wonders that would be the team’s backcourt talent should they make such a move, as the potential of Beal joining forces with SGA would, at least on paper, be lethal:
"Can you imagine the possibilities of Beal and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the same backcourt? Defenses could never contend with all of that shiftiness, shot-making and distributing. This team could lock down the other end, too, especially if OKC could keep Luguentz Dort and Darius Bazley out of the deal."
However, all in all, Buckley made sure to suggest that such a move is highly unlikely, for the Thunder seem content with their slow-burn rebuild, and so do we.
Still, if they were to change their minds — though, obviously, we hope not –, and wish to add an established star like Beal to the rotation, it’s entertaining to know that Presti has the potential to easily make it happen.