In just six years, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has already managed to thrust himself onto the Mount Rushmore of OKC Thunder players.
From his numerous All-Star and All-NBA nods, league scoring title, and current frontrunner status to take home the 2025 MVP award, the point guard's accolades speak for themselves.
Add all this to the fact that he's led Oklahoma City to back-to-back number one seeds in the conference standings and currently has them in the mix for a championship run and, should they wind up taking home this year's Larry O'Brien Trophy, there could even be a case that he may come away from the 2024-25 season as the greatest player in franchise history.
Yet, despite all of this, it appears Nick Wright of Fox Sports would be willing to part ways with his services in a blockbuster trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo this summer.
In fact, he went as far as to refer to the idea as "pretty simple."
Baffling new trade proposal has Thunder swapping Shai for Giannis
During a May 12 episode of First Things First, Wright discussed a number of possible offseason trade scenarios involving Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, who, following his third-straight first-round exit, has been the center of trade rumors galore.
To Wright, there are only a few teams in the league that could strike a deal for the forward and still be contenders after execution.
To no surprise, the Thunder are believed to fall into such a category, though not for the reasons many may think, as the sports personality's suggested proposal sees Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Kenrich Williams being sent to Milwaukee for the Greek Freak.
His reasoning: Giannis being deemed a superior player to Shai and salary concerns.
"I think Giannis is better than Shai... Nobody else makes a ton. So it's like four players you've got to trade. Chet doesn't make enough yet, so it's like Chet, plus Dort, plus Caruso, plus another guy," Wright said.
Even if someone believes Giannis to be the better player between him and SGA, this trade scenario still makes zero sense for the Thunder to ever realistically consider.
First, in this exchange, Oklahoma City would automatically be shortening their championship window on account of the fact that they'd be swapping out their current cornerstone at the ripe young age of 26 for a star who'll be turning 31 come December.
Second, the frontcourt partnership of Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein has already proven to have some struggles on the offensive end, as they still find themselves trying to work on spacing alongside one another.
Adding someone like Giannis, who lives at the rim and prioritizes driving the lane to create scoring opportunities, would only further clog the paint.
Finally, the Thunder have a whopping 15 first-round picks in their possession between now and 2031. Hoarding so many of these rights was believed to help the ball club strike on a splashy deal without having to cough up their top-tier talents in a transaction.
If they give up Shai to make a blockbuster happen, then what on Earth have they been holding onto this treasure trove of draft picks for?
Over the years, there have been a bevy of wild and, in many ways, deranged trade proposals made involving this Thunder team. However, this one made by Nick Wright just may be the most egregious of them all.
If OKC wants Giannis, they can get him without giving up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The concept behind such an acquisition should be to create a menacing one-two punch between the two of them, and perhaps even the most ferocious core-four in the entire league -- not to choose one superstar or another!