Jazz stud floated as 'top trade target' for Thunder, and it's not Lauri Markkanen

This summer, the talk of the town has been the idea of a potential blockbuster trade involving Utah Jazz star, Lauri Markkanen, as rumors are Danny Ainge and company are strongly weighing their options in a possible exchange.

To no one's surprise, the OKC Thunder have been pegged as a plausible landing spot for the 27-year-old considering their need for added depth in the frontcourt coupled with the fact that they could easily extend one of the best offers in Utah's direction thanks to their slew of draft capital and highly touted young talents.

However, despite these rumblings among fans and pundits regarding a Markkanen move out to Loud City, David Rooney of ClutchPoints believes a different scenario with the Jazz should be coveted, as he argued in a recent piece that combo guard Collin Sexton should be "a top trade target" for the Thunder.

Thunder urged to pursue trade for Jazz guard Collin Sexton

Citing the team's "desperate need for creation," especially following the Josh Giddey trade from earlier this offseason, Rooney suggests Sexton could provide such attributes to this title-hungry Thunder team in 2024-25, arguing him to be "one of the most undervalued players in the entire league."

An overall spark plug on the offensive side of the ball, Sexton is coming off a solid 2023-24 run with the Jazz where he posted per-game averages of 18.7 points, 4.9 assists, and 2.6 rebounds while shooting 48.7 percent from the floor and 39.4 percent from deep.

The former lottery pick has made a career for himself as being a crafty scoring threat who can plug into any of the two backcourt positions.

With the departure of Giddey, Oklahoma City currently lacks a viable backup point guard option to have behind the likes of superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the depth chart, a role that Rooney is suggesting the 25-year-old could fill in the event of a trade.

Of course, what Mark Daigneault's club is lacking more than anything as a result of the early offseason transaction is a capable distributor and play-maker for others -- someone who can lead an offense with the second unit and in spurts with the starting lineup when SGA is sidelined.

Sexton is without question a highly versatile scorer, but a trusty and consistent facilitator, he is not.

This past season he dished out his highest number of assists per game while sporting a career-high assist percentage of 29.5. However, he did so while coughing up 2.1 turnovers per game and boasting the third-highest usage rate of his entire career (27.5), all while predominantly serving within the Jazz's starting five.

In no way would his usage rate and starting role remain the same if acquired by the Thunder, and, as Rooney admitted in his piece, the guard "does rely heavily on volume to put up the counting stats," thus indicating his productivity would only be slated to decline in such a move.

From time to time, Sexton has certainly shown flashes of being a competent distributor, but this aspect of his game is not what makes him a worthwhile commodity for a team to have within their arsenal.

Instead, it's his scoring prowess that makes him a difference-maker on the hardwood, and, being the Thunder already have several heavy-hitting weapons in this department within their rotation -- SGA, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren --, bringing on someone of Sexton's ilk may just be unnecessary, as they should instead be looking for a player who can create open looks for these individuals rather than trying to find shots for themself.

Collin Sexton is a solid player in this association, and perhaps Rooney is correct in calling out his "undervalued" status in the association, but this does not mean that he's the type of addition the Thunder should be looking and longing for heading into the 2024-25 season.