The OKC Thunder are heading into the 2024-25 campaign with an overwhelming amount of optimism.
After rattling off 57 wins, becoming the youngest team in league history to clinch a top-seed in a conference standings, and advancing to their first semifinals appearance in nearly a decade, this summer Mark Daigneault's already menacing Oklahoma City squad managed to get even more terrifying.
From the signing of Isaiah Hartenstein on day two of free agency to strengthen their size and physicality in the frontcourt to the acquisition of 3-and-D guard Alex Caruso via trade back in late June that is bound to better their backcourt's long-range game, throughout the offseason Sam Presti and company have worked tirelessly to improve the team's overall make-up.
And while their efforts have seemingly paid off in the eyes of odds-makers, who have given the Thunder the second-best odds of winning the 2025 NBA Finals, it appears they may still have fallen short of perfectly rounding out the rotation.
OKC Thunder must consider adding traditional power forward
As things currently stand, the weakest position within coach Daigneault's arsenal seems to be power forward, where their primary option from last year and heading into 2024-25 is Jalen Williams.
While the 23-year-old did manage to have himself a phenomenal run at the four in 2023-24, posting sensational averages of 19.1 points, 4.5 assists, and 4.0 rebounds on 54.0 percent shooting from the floor and 42.7 percent from distance en route to a fourth-place finish in the Most Improved Player race, considering his size (6-foot-5, 211 pounds) coupled with his play style it's quite evident that Williams boasts the makings of a traditional three.
Because of this, it might be in OKC's best interest to look into ways where they could better flesh out their lineup by bringing on a more natural fit at the power forward position, and, in a recent piece penned by FanSided's Christopher Kline, the seasoned writer proposed a trade that could prove to do exactly that.
Laying out the trade
Though the Thunder may be one of the youngest teams in the entire league with an average age of 23.9, it's more than evident that they are in a position where they could realistically win a title now, and, as a result, they're looking to capitalize.
For clubs in this position, rostering experienced, tried and true talents is generally an absolute luxury to have in tow, and, in Kline's proposal, Oklahoma City is seen adding on such a commodity via trade with the Brooklyn Nets.
As noted in the piece, considering the Nets are expected to be heading straight into a full-fledged rebuild following the blockbuster trade that sent centerpiece Mikal Bridges out to their cross-borough rival, the New York Knicks, "Brooklyn no longer has need of Finney-Smith's veteran presence."
Instead, they likely are looking into ways where they can either fetch draft capital and/ or young, promising prospects to help aid in their future-focused endeavors.
In Kline's eyes, this tandem of Ousmane Dieng and Dillon Jones heading Brooklyn bound could essentially be seen as "the equivalent of a first-round pick and change" in a hypothetical exchange.
Both are two recent first-round selections made by the Thunder, with the former being taken 11 overall in the 2022 draft and the latter being snatched up at 26 this past June. They are also both 22 years of age and below and are still attached to their low-cost, rookie-scale contracts.
On top of this, the Nets would also be able to rid themselves of their fifth-highest salary in Finney-Smith's $14.9 million pay-day for 2024-25, thus allowing them to continue to chip away at their egregious $165.7 million payroll -- despite being projected as a bottom-feeder moving forward, they have more committed salary than some title-hopeful teams like Cleveland and, ironically, the Thunder.
Adding the promise of a recent lottery pick in Dieng and a Swiss Army Knife-type talent in rookie Dillon Jones may truly be one of the more strategic and better value packages this clearly tanking team could end up fetching.
Assuming GM Sean Marks would agree to these terms, what should the Thunder's though process be on this kind of proposal?
Grading the Trade: Should the Thunder say yes?
Dorian Finney-Smith is a baller who has been around the block and has proven capable of contributing in major ways on win-now ball clubs.
The 31-year-old has seen numerous playoff runs throughout his eight seasons in the association, with one of his latest appearances going as far as the Western Conference Finals in 2022.
At 6-foot-7, 220 pounds DFS is a prototypical, modern-day four who has made a career for himself being a highly physical and rather reliable 3-and-D rotation player who has proven to be more than comfortable taking on a wide range of defensive assignments thanks to his length (6-foot-11 wingspan), strength, and lateral quickness.
Over the last five years, the veteran has found himself posting impressive two-way averages of 9.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.7 assists on 37.1 percent shooting from distance while sporting a sound defensive rating of 114.
Described by Kline as "gravy for a deep, dynamic OKC lineup" due to his remarkable versatility, the idea of adding the established Finney-Smith to this promising, albeit still rather green Thunder team to boost their already menacing attack on both ends of the floor and bolster their lacking power forward depth seems too good to pass on.
An exchange of two players in Ousmane Dieng and Dillon Jones who certainly will see minimal time on the varsity squad and are likely to find the majority of their on-court action coming in the G League for a proven, win-now talent in Dorian Finney-Smith would be a dream scenario for Oklahoma City.