3 Thunder who might be next on chopping block following Josh Giddey trade

Gordon Hayward

Here, we have easily the least surprising name one will find on a list of Thunder players who might be gone come next season, Gordon Hayward.

Acquired at the trade deadline this past year, the hope with adding the veteran into the mix was that he'd bring on much-needed offensive versatility outside of SGA, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren as well as ample playoff experience for this talented, albeit inexperience squad.

Being he was off to an impressive start to the campaign while playing with the Charlotte Hornets, one where he was posting averages of 14.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.6 assists on 46.8 percent from the floor and 36.1 percent from deep, to many, his acquisition, especially at the price tag he was received at, seemed to be a no-brainer.

Unfortunately, what wound up happening was instead of the former All-Star seamlessly plugging into and playing well within a new scheme and alongside new running mates, Hayward struggled mightily to mesh, as he would go on to post highly underwhelming averages of just 5.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in a mere 17.2 minutes a night.

Come playoff time, his struggles became so severe that he was ultimately taken out of the rotation entirely after going scoreless through seven games played, which, during his exit interview, led to dissatisfied comments being made about his usage.

From Hayward's own words to GM Sam Presti publicly taking blame for executing the trade in the first place, heading into the offseason it should go without saying that the 34-year-old will almost certainly be repping another team's colors in 2024-25.