Considering they're already the top seed in the Western Conference standings and sport the best record in the entire league at 37-8, there's a strong case to be made that the OKC Thunder don't need to make any significant roster-altering moves before the February 6 deadline.
Of course, this is not to say that they can't get involved in some trade shenanigans during the next week and change.
Recently, the folks at Bleacher Report constructed a blockbuster transaction that, if executed, would see Oklahoma City help facilitate the biggest blockbuster of the campaign.
Trade idea has Thunder expoditing Jimmy Butler-to-Suns blockbuster
The talk of the town this trade season has been the situation between Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat, as it continues to become more evident by the day that the All-Star forward is hell-bent on making his way out of South Beach.
Just recently, things seem to have reached a new all-time low between the two parties, as Miami has suspended Butler "indefinitely" after he had walked out of a team shootaround Monday afternoon.
With this ongoing drama, it should come as no surprise that fans and media pundits have been churning out their ideas of how to finally bring peace to Miami Beach, and Eric Pincus seems to believe a five-team megadeal involving the Heat, Suns, Bucks, Wizards, and Thunder could be the appropriate path to move forward.
The proposed blockbuster reads as follows:
Heat get: Khris Middleton, Bobby Portis, 2025 first-rounder (via OKC), $4 million trade exception
Suns get: Jimmy Butler
Bucks get: Bradley Beal, $2.7 million trade exception
Wizards get: Pat Connaughton, MarJon Beauchamp, 2026 first-rounder (Via PHX), $5.3 million trade exception
Thunder get: Johnny Davis, 2028 first-rounder (Via PHX)
Amid the feuding within the Heat organization, rumblings have surfaced indicating that one of Butler's top preferred destinations in a trade is Phoenix, and, considering they're in all-out win-now mode with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker leading the charge, it should come as zero surprise that the ball club is rumored to be mutually interested in such an ordeal.
In this exchange, there could theoretically be a ton of benefactors.
The All-Star and the Suns would get the marriage that they seem to want; Miami would rid themselves of a disgruntled Butler before he can opt into his $52.4 million player option for 2025-26; the Bucks get a new potential third-star to have team up with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard; and the Wizards shed salary space while adding draft capital.
However, what's interesting to note about this deal is that even though they wouldn't get back any players of note, there's a strong case to be made that the Thunder could come away from this as the biggest winners of all.
As noted earlier, considering their current title-favorite status, one could argue that the idea of Oklahoma City bringing on an outsourced commodity to be inserted into the lineup brings the unnecessary risk of negatively impacting their elite chemistry as a collective.
Because of this, over the past few weeks, many have come forward and urged Sam Presti and company to only look into acquiring low-cost contributors to have at the end of the rotation or to exchange a few of their more heavily protected future draft picks for one higher value selection slated to come further down the road.
In this trade by Pincus, the Thunder would accomplish both objectives in one fell swoop.
Johnny Davis is a former lottery selection playing through his final year under a rookie-scale contract who, at best, could prove himself enough during this final half of 2024-25 to stay put long-term or, at worst, comes off the books come the offseason with zero long-term financial repercussions.
On top of this, the Thunder would trade the second-most favorable first-round pick from the 2025 NBA Draft from one of the Rockets, Clippers, Suns, or Miami's own, while still keeping a potential of three others in this year's draft alone and acquiring "the lower 2028 first-rounder from the Wizards and whichever is lowest of the Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers (with multiple protections) and Suns."
All in all, this type of move is something that would have zero impact on OKC's current top-dog status but, simultaneously, helps them long-term both in the financial and draft capital department.
If ever Pincus's proposal became a legitimate discussion rather than a mere hypothetical, Presti and company need to pounce at the opportunity.