The February 6 trade deadline is just under a month away, and, still, no one seems to know what the OKC Thunder plan on doing.
Though they're flush with high-end expendable commodities both in the form of draft capital and promising young prospects, and possess a few glaring limitations within their on-court product, as history has taught us this front office is not one to let such factors force themselves into partaking in in-season trading.
In fact, just recently reports surfaced indicating Sam Presti and company have yet to show any semblance of interest in adhering to the pleas of both fans and pundits regarding possible deals ahead of the deadline.
Yet, despite this buzz, a lot can change in a matter of a few weeks and, considering they're looking to set themselves up for a title run in the now as well as for several others in the foreseeable future, there's a strong case to be made that partaking in some sort of trade could prove to be incredibly beneficial to these aspirations.
While the biggest and most noteworthy hypothetical transaction the Thunder could pursue this season is in a deal for the highly coveted Nets sniper Cameron Johnson, in a recent piece by Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report it is believed that, if the deadline were already here, they would opt to go after... more draft picks?!
Thunder fans urged to expect draft picks rather than established players
The Thunder are already in possession of more future draft capital than they could even possibly attempt to use on themselves. Over the next seven years, the franchise will have anywhere between nine and 15 first-round picks at their disposal and nearly double the amount of second-rounders.
Considering there are only 15 players permitted to be on an NBA team's active roster at a time, it's far from logical to believe Oklahoma City will wind up using all of these picks on themselves.
So why, then, would Pincus project that it's plausible that the front office would rather bring on more capital than incoming players before the deadline?
Well, in his eyes, such a move would be about setting themselves up to control the team's payroll down the road.
As pointed out in the piece, both Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren will be extension-eligible this summer, and Alex Caruso himself just received a long-term extension with a worth of $81 million over the next four seasons.
Not only this, but superstar guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will soon be up for a massive new payday, one that could range anywhere from $293.4 million to $379.9 million.
The combination of these salaries is only bound to add up over the years to come, which, in turn, could have Presti and co. preemptively worried about pushing near the dreaded luxury tax and daunting tax aprons.
In these types of situations, easily the most cost-effective way of ducking under such penalties while still filling out a roster with high-potential players is by adding top-billed talents attached to rookie-scale price tags.
While this may not be the most exciting course of action, especially when considering the fiscal side of the league it's hard to argue that this isn't a logical gameplan.
Eventually, guys like Cason Wallace, Aaron Wiggins, and Ajay Mitchell may find themselves pricing their way out of Oklahoma City and the Thunder will need to try and make up for their losses. Future first-round draft picks could be the safest way to protect themselves from these potential departures and financial hardships down the road.