The 2025 NBA trade season has the makings of becoming one of the most active in league history.
The Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks took part in a major blockbuster trade involving a swap of Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis. All-Star guard De'Aaron Fox was shipped from Sacramento to the Spurs to pair with Victor Wembanyama. Heck, even the OKC Thunder got involved in the festivities with a deal of their own.
Now, with just over 24 hours to go until the February 6 deadline, the Milwaukee Bucks threw their hat into the proverbial ring themselves as they struck a deal with the Wizards during the morning hours of Wednesday to acquire veteran forward Kyle Kuzma to add to their title-hopeful roster.
Breaking: The Milwaukee Bucks are trading Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson and a pick swap to the Washington Wizards for Kyle Kuzma, Patrick Baldwin Jr. and second-round draft compensation, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/hCOzqqqUXE
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 5, 2025
Unlike other moves over the last week, this transaction will have little to no impact on the Thunder from a competition standpoint. Unless both Oklahoma City and Milwaukee make it to the NBA Finals, the deal will only affect those in the Eastern Conference.
That said, the Bucks' decision to acquire Kuzma still may have an influence on the Thunder from a decision-making standpoint, as it officially takes a popular trade option off the table, which, in turn, makes Sam Presti's deadline a bit easier to navigate.
Kyle Kuzma fortunately no longer a trade option for OKC Thunder
Dating back to last year's deadline, Kyle Kuzma has frequently been seen as a potential trade option for the Thunder, with some rumblings suggesting that the team may have even pondered on the idea of pursuing his services in the past.
Ultimately, however, Presti and company shied away from making such a move, and upon further analysis, it appears they made the right decision.
Sure, OKC could use another shot creator within their arsenal, especially one who could help improve their second unit's 19-ranked scoring punch. Though Kuzma has averaged 20+ points in two of the last three seasons and is posting 15.2 points per game now in 2024-25, his inefficiency in the scoring department would have been a terrible match for Mark Daigneault's rotation.
A team that prides itself on generating clean looks and taking advantage of their motion scoring abilities, the forward's addition may have been an absolute disaster from a stylistic standpoint as he boasts a mere 44.9 percent shooting percentage from the floor and an even more underwhelming 33.4 percent shooting clip from deep.
Currently, he's only making 28.1 of his long-range attempts.
His off-ball production makes his hypothetical fit on the Thunder even more nauseating, as he shoots just 27.5 percent from the floor and 28.2 percent from deep in catch-and-shoot sets. Considering they rank eighth in the league when it comes to catch-and-shoot activity, the match just doesn't seem to be there.
On top of all this, despite what his impressive ball-handling and athleticism would have you believe, he's genuinely not all that efficient as an isolation scorer either. On the year, he sports a mediocre effective field goal percentage of just 37.5 percent when playing iso.
Yet, even with all this in mind, before Wednesday's trade some were still trying to make the case that OKC should consider trading for the 29-year-old.
With the Bucks striking first, Kyle Kuzma is officially no longer an option to consider, which makes the Thunder's list of potential targets both smaller and, frankly, easier to assess.