For years now, the OKC Thunder have been positioned to strike on a blockbuster trade thanks to their astonishingly vast collection of promising young prospects and future draft capital.
However, despite their abilities to do so, Sam Presti and company have refrained from pulling the trigger on any such exchanges due to the risks that tend to come along with these kinds of "external solutions."
Though it's hard to argue this hesitancy has been the wrong approach, as Oklahoma City is coming off a historically successful 2023-24 season and is on course toward earning a second-straight number one seed in 2024-25, fans and media pundits have yet to tire from thinking up ways for the franchise to execute some sort of megadeal with their overflow of assets.
From rising studs like Cameron Johnson to legitimate superstars such as Kawhi Leonard, throughout this season alone the Thunder have been linked to a plethora of talents strewn across the association as possible trade targets.
Most recently, Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report boldly claimed that power forward Zion Williamson should be viewed as a "dream" trade option for OKC to pursue ahead of this year's deadline, arguing that adding a "mega talent" like him to a team that's already 33-6 and a favorite to win the 2025 NBA Championship "seems unfair."
While the upside the former number one pick possesses is quite evident, as he's a two-time All-Star who boasts stellar career averages of 24.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 4.2 assists on 58.7 percent shooting from the field, there's reason to believe that his addition to this Thunder squad has a higher chance of becoming a nightmare more than anything else.
Idea of Thunder trading for Zion Williamson could be an absolute disaster
This season as currently constructed, the Thunder have struggled mightily with injuries, especially within their frontcourt rotation. Now, following Wednesday's Isaiah Hartenstein news, there's a realistic possibility that they'll be forced to once again slide 6-foot-5 Jalen Williams in at the starting pivot position, as they still find themselves waiting on the return of cornerstone big, Chet Holmgren.
Zion Williamson has shown serious promise and game-changing abilities when on the hardwood throughout his career, but, so often, he's been found donning street clothes on the sidelines due to some sort of injury.
Throughout his six-year professional career, the 24-year-old has played 193 out of a potential total of 432 regular season games. Adding this kind of undependability and injury risk, especially when Oklahoma City's currently struggling to stave off any more chomps from the injury bug, would be incredibly unnecessary.
Heck, even if Swartz is right about how the Thunder are "good enough to withstand any long-term injuries to Williamson," why would they want to take that chance when they've already seen how difficult it's been to simply stay afloat amid their own health woes?
On top of all this, the cost it would likely take to bring the big man aboard would likely be insufferable to find common ground with NOLA. If OKC could simply bring him aboard for a few future first-round picks and salary-matching talents then by all means they should go for it.
Of course, considering the fact that he's only in year two of a whopping five-year, $197 million deal, mere afterthought contracts like Ousmane Dieng, Nikola Topic, and, even getting more expensive, Isaiah Joe simply won't cut it.
In a perfect world where Williamson has managed to stay healthy, his introduction to this Thunder rotation would be exactly what Swartz described it as -- a real "dream."
Sadly, in this world, he's been far from a picture of perfect health (both injury and weight-wise), which is why him being traded out of New Orleans is even considered a possible situation.
If the Thunder ever opted to strike on a blockbuster deal, knowing how Sam Presti operates it almost certainly would not be for the high-risk, high-reward contributions of Zion Williamson.