To the shock of very few, the OKC Thunder remained rather dormant at the 2025 NBA trade deadline.
Though they did manage to execute two deals before last Thursday's cut-off, both were centered around adding more future draft capital and involved no noteworthy talents joining the roster.
While some fans may be upset with this ultimate turn of events, as the ball club was frequently linked to a number of high-profile players rumored to be available on the open market, ironically, their lack of activity may wind up benefiting their talent acquisition pursuits in the long run.
Of the numerous players who were found connected to the Thunder within trade rumor mills, the majority of them wound up staying pat beyond February 6.
This means that if Oklahoma City still covets any of them come the offseason, be it due to them hitting free agency, lowered asking prices on the trade market, or more desirable salary figures, a pursuit of their services during the summer may actually prove to be simpler in comparison.
In particular, there are three popular trade deadline targets of the Thunder who should still be on their radar come the conclusion of this year's campaign.
Larry Nance Jr.
The Swiss Army Knife talents of Larry Nance Jr. could have been a major addition to this bruised and battered Thunder frontcourt as they look to gear up for the franchise's first NBA Championship run since 1979.
Regardless of what the outcome to this season ends up being, OKC should still be interested in pursuing the veteran during the summer and, quite frankly, such an effort could prove to be both simpler and more cost-efficient than had they done so prior to the deadline.
Come July, Nance will enter into unrestricted free agency and have the opportunity to sign wherever his heart desires. Considering his positional switchability, floor-spacing skills, and defensive versatility, it's safe to say that any contending team would love to have the 32-year-old within their arsenal.
The Thunder clearly fit the criteria of such a club, and bringing Larry Nance Jr. and his career averages of 7.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.1 steals on 35.4 percent shooting from deep to the Sooner State via a veteran minimum or MLE would be a highly strategic and an arguable steal of a move.
Cameron Johnson
The most popular trade target linked to the Thunder leading into the deadline was Cameron Johnson, a player whose elite motion shooting and three-level scoring chops were viewed as attributes Mark Daigneault's club severely lacks.
Of course, in the end, OKC didn't wind up striking on a deal for the highly coveted sharpshooter. Shockingly, no other team did either, which may play out well in the Thunder's favor.
To many, the belief behind why a player of Johnson's caliber wasn't offloaded was largely due to Brooklyn's incredibly high asking price of multiple first-round picks.
Though Sam Presti could have easily met the Nets' desires with such an offer, as we've seen throughout the storied executive's tenure he's always hunting for a bargain.
While certainly possible, coughing up such capital for a glorified role player is far from a fair exchange, especially when considering guys like All-NBA guard De'Aaron Fox just recently netted the Sacramento Kings three first-round picks.
Perhaps Brooklyn learned from their deadline experience and, as a result, will lower the price for Cam Johnson come summertime. Should this wind up happening, adding a wing who's currently posting 19.3 points on 41.8 percent shooting from deep at a discounted rate could end up being a major win for the Thunder.
Kevin Durant
According to numerous reports, the Suns held numerous conversations with opposing organizations regarding potential Kevin Durant trade ideas.
Though, ultimately, no such move was made, the news of these talks reportedly "blindsided" the superstar, which, now, has some believing a breakup between him and Phoenix could be coming this offseason.
The Thunder should be monitoring this situation closely.
While adding Durant to this OKC team mid-season may have been a bit tricky and potentially damaging to their clearly elite on-court chemistry, doing so with a full offseason to get a core of him, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren acclimated would undoubtedly be the ideal scenario should they wish to pursue a reunion.
The core-four this would create would be rivaled by no other team in the league, not even the reigning champion Boston Celtics.
Especially if the Thunder fall short of winning it all this year they should be incredibly interested in bringing back their once beloved franchise cornerstone who, now in his 18 season, is still producing at ridiculous rates with averages of 26.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.3 blocks while shooting 52.4 percent from the floor and 39.8 percent from distance.
Considering the reputation hit he's taken since his departure back in 2016, along with the title drought he's been in since 2018, so, too, should Kevin Durant.