OKC Thunder: 3 players to consider flipping Kemba Walker for

OKC Thunder target No. 2) Kevin Love

A few months back, I discussed the idea of the OKC Thunder pursuing a couple of “washed up” stars via trade during the 2021 offseason to potentially give something of a CP3 style treatment to.

The headliner was Walker and, despite many heading to the comments section suggesting that such an idea would never happen, now in late June this hypothetical scenario has now become a reality.

The second player mentioned within the article was Kevin Love and, though at this point in time is certainly the lesser of the two talents, flipping veteran guard for the 32-year-old power forward could be an interesting concept worth considering for Oklahoma City.

For starters, such a swap would allow Presti to shed some salary space, as the big man’s remaining two years left on his deal is about $13.5 million less than Walker’s ($60.2 million).

Second, and perhaps the most important, is that Cleveland also seems interested in parting ways with young guard, Collin Sexton, who is a player we believe should be on Oklahoma City’s radar as a possible trade target anyway. Not only could a Kemba Walker trade lessen the salary space for the franchise, but it could also nab them a potential long-term backcourt running mate for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Lastly, despite Love’s lowly year, similar to our stance on KP he still would be a solid secondary scorer (career 18 point per game scorer) to run with SGA in the starting lineup, as well as a much-needed floor spacer in the frontcourt (shot nearly 37 percent from deep in 2020-21).