3 Players not named Lauri Markkanen Thunder must trade for

Malcolm Brodgon

With the team's decision to offload Josh Giddey this summer in the Alex Caruso exchange with the Chicago Bulls, the Thunder clearly managed to upgrade their wing position's 3-and-D potential, but, in the process, sacrificed their playmaking abilities by parting ways with arguably their best pure set-up artist.

For some time now, there have been many suggestions made regarding who within the free agency market Presti could look to pursue in an effort to make up for the 21-year-old's absence heading into next season and, though many of the players mentioned have impressive skill sets that could benefit Oklahoma City, should they be willing to address their need for a new secondary creator, Malcolm Brogdon could be an ideal target to consider.

A player who dishes out 7.8 dimes per 100 possessions throughout his career, the former Sixth Man of the Year is coming off a solid season with the Portland Trail Blazers where he posted impressive averages of 15.7 points, 5.5 assists, and 3,8 boards and 41.2 percent shooting from deep.

Despite this sound level of production, however, within the past few weeks, Brogdon was shipped out from Oregon to Washington D.C. in the Deni Avdija blockbuster.

The Wizards, who are coming off a putrid 15-67 season and that just traded away their best player, are a club seemingly amid a full-out teardown, which likely means their acquisition of the eighth-year pro was likely seen as a way for them to net more valuable assets (young players, draft capital, etc.) in return for his services in a follow-up trade at some point down the line.

The Thunder are a team that could use for his play-making abilities, scoring prowess, long-range shooting skills (more on this later), and overall veteran leadership, and, for the right price, he could be a great replacement option behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the backup one.