OKC Thunder: B/R believes Sexton should be viewed as trade target

It’s hard to be an OKC Thunder fan and NOT be excited about what the 2021 NBA Offseason might have in store for the franchise.

Aside from the fact that they hold the fourth-best odds of landing the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft, they will also likely have the most spending power on the free agency market with roughly $55 million in cap space, and will be ever-present on the trade market.

In regard to the latter route of action, it’s obvious that the main objective in this field will be for Oklahoma City to part ways with Al Horford, who played quite well with the franchise in 2020-21 (14.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 3.4 assists) but, according to sources, both parties have agreed that a split would likely be in each of their best interest.

However, considering the phase the organization is currently in, they have the luxury of being somewhat creative and experimental with their offseason endeavors. One way in which they could be so is by dealing for estranged young talents across the league who could be of some service to the Thunder in the long term, be it as a building block or simply a flippable asset.

Last week, we at TI discussed such a topic and listed two players who fit this description that could be potential trade targets for Sam Presti and co. to consider. Shortly after the article’s release, Bleacher Report put out a piece discussing the perfect trade target for every team in the association and, to our enjoyment, we saw one of the two ballers we discussed in Collin Sexton inked to the OKC Thunder.

Citing his youth coupled with the fact that the franchise should look into bolstering the backcourt talent around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, writer Greg Swartz believes that the 22-year-old would be the ideal acquisition for OKC this summer:

"Sexton had a terrific junior season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, averaging 24.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.0 steals on 47.5 percent shooting. While the Cavs clearly value Sexton, the hesitation to give him a max contract extension or the opportunity to draft Jalen Suggs or Jalen Green may put him on the market.OKC has enough draft ammo to make a competitive offer for nearly any player they want in the league, and a lineup of Gilgeous-Alexander, Sexton, Lu Dort, Darius Bazley and Moses Brown is a rock-solid foundation to build on."

It’s great to see we’re not alone in our desire to see Collin Sexton joining up with SGA as a member of the OKC Thunder and, in the coming days, we at the site will be thinking up ways in which such a concept could become a reality.