The OKC Thunder historically shy away from making in-season shakeups. However, with the club's recent struggles coupled with the latest Shams-bomb revealing that Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo is "ready for a new home," they may want to rethink their approach to this year's trade deadline.
According to ESPN NBA Insider Shams Charania, Milwaukee is "starting to listen" to trade offers for its franchise cornerstone, and many clubs around the league are already making "aggressive offers" in pursuit of him.
Oklahoma City is a team that certainly doesn't need to make any trades ahead of the February 5 cut-off to be a contender. As things currently stand, they boast a core that just won the 2025 NBA Finals and, at 38-10, are viewed as the favorites to run it back in 2026.
However, over the last month and a half of action (14-9 over their last 23 games), this once impenetrable squad has shown some previously unknown flaws. From their lack of frontcourt depth amid a widespread injury epidemic to their seemingly regressed defensive production, this Thunder rotation has a number of troubling weaknesses.
In theory, a trade for Giannis could solve all of these issues in one fell swoop.
Thunder should consider entering Giannis trade sweepstakes
Here in his 13 season in the association, the two-time MVP finds himself once again stuffing the stat sheet to the tune of 28.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 5.6 assists while shooting a career-best 64.5 percent from the field and 39.5 percent from deep.
Giannis' addition to the Thunder would automatically help bolster their frontcourt depth issues, as he'd be the most talented power forward the club has rostered since the days of Kevin Durant, while his status as a perennial All-Defensive selection and former Defensive Player of the Year would automatically improve their lapse in efficiency on the less glamorous side of the ball.
The beauty of a hypothetical pursuit of the Greek Freak is the fact that Oklahoma City could easily package together the best offer Milwaukee would receive for their superstar, as they possess one of the best collections of draft capital the NBA has ever seen and roster a slew of top-flight young prospects that are bound to pique the Bucks' interest in a hypothetical exchange.
Best of all, they could realistically do all of this without even touching their Big Three of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren, as well as a large chunk of their secondary and tertiary players.
Of course, though such a move certainly sounds exciting on the surface, bringing aboard the $186 million owed to Giannis through 2028 while the Thunder are already trying to avoid the second apron next season as is may be a headache Sam Presti and company are looking to avoid.
Nevertheless, the ease with which it would take to construct a package that could realistically create a starting five of SGA, Giannis, J-Dub, and Chet is enough to make such a move worth exploring for this dynasty-pushing organization.