Over the last few months, there was much chatter among fans and pundits regarding the concept of a potential reunion between the OKC Thunder and former sixth-man extraordinaire, Dennis Schroder.
From his impressive scoring abilities that see him dropping 18.4 points a night this season to his proven experience as both a veteran leader and while serving as a positive contributor out in the Sooner State, many viewed the 31-year-old as an ideal trade target ahead of February's deadline.
Last Sunday, however, the opportunity for the Thunder to pursue such a move came to its expiration, as the Brooklyn Nets agreed to deal Schroder to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for De’Anthony Melton, Reece Beekman, and three second-round picks.
Now, granted, such a transaction is by no means a crushing blow for the franchise moving forward. Without his services, Oklahoma City is still the top seed in the Western Conference standings, the best two-way ball club in the entire league, and is viewed as a top threat to take home the Larry O'Brien Trophy come year's end
However, the move still may have a direct impact on the team, as it not only strengthens a direct conference rival's talent arsenal but also provides fewer trade options to help the Thunder fix their struggling bench unit.
Because of this, Bleacher Report's Gregg Swartz, once an advocate for seeing a deal to send Schroder back to Oklahoma City, is now suggesting Sam Presti and company should look to reunite with another beloved former guard in an attempt to shore up their second unit rotation.
Thunder urged to consider reunion with former All-Star Chris Paul
In a recent piece penned by the tenured B/R writer, Swartz pegged 12-time All-Star Chris Paul as a top trade target for OKC to consider pursuing, citing his well-established playmaking abilities as a primary reason why.
The Thunder reaped the rewards of this aforementioned playmaking back during the 2019-20 season, where he led a presumably tanking team (they had just traded Russell Westbrook and Paul George that offseason) to the fifth-seed in the Western Conference standings while posting sensational, All-NBA earning averages of 17.6 points, 6.7 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.6 steals.
Now five years removed from this Cinderella Story-esque run, it's more than evident that Paul is no longer performing at these same heights.
However, 26 games into his debut campaign with the San Antonio Spurs he still finds himself producing as a trusty floor general and solid floor spacer as he's averaging 9.6 points, 8.4 assists, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.4 steals on roughly 35.0 percent shooting from distance.
These attributes could be of great use within the second unit for the Thunder, as they have struggled mightily to find any semblance of consistency on the offensive end of the floor. As things currently stand, they rank 15 in assists, 23 in points, 25 in three-point percentage, and 29 in overall field goal percentage.
On top of this, arguably the best pure facilitator on the team is big man Isaiah Hartenstein, so adding another table-setter into the mix to run the point sporadically and help get the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and, once he returns from injury, Chet Holmgren clean scoring opportunities could only be a blessing moving forward.
Perhaps the cherry on top of this hypothetical reunion idea is the fact that Paul is on an expiring contract while earning a highly manageable salary of $10.4 million.
As was the case with last year's Gordon Hayward trade debacle, should things not work out with the experiment a clean split could come about this coming offseason.
In other words, there's no real risk to pursuing a deal for the future Hall of Famer. Quite frankly, considering how he's been playing this season and how badly the Thunder could use a second-unit stabilizer, this idea of trading for Chris Paul should be strongly considered.