Thunder News: Poku cut, Chet writing history, All-Star trade, mock drafts

Chet writing history

The NBA has been looking for a "unicorn" for the last decade, a big man who can defend the rim at an elite level and also hit 3-pointers at volume. There are players who have entered that conversation, from Brook Lopez to Kristaps Porzingis to Jaren Jackson Jr. This season, however, the definition of unicorn is being elevated to an entirely new level.

In the Thunder's win over the Rockets on Sunday, Chet Holmgren reached 100 3-pointers on the season. That gave him an impressive collection of stats: at least 150 blocks, 150 assists and 100 threes for the season in 57 games. What makes that notable is that no player in NBA history has ever reached those thresholds.

Read that again. That's not a rookie record that Holmgren just broke. In all of NBA history, no players has ever combined shot-blocking, floor-spacing and playmaking.

As you can see in the embedded Tweet, fellow rookie Victor Wembanyama is not far behind. He is (just barely) on track to match that threshold himself, meaning the two most impressive "unicorns" in league history are both rookies at the same time. The league is not prepared for what is coming.

All-Star trade

Speaking of unique players, Lauri Markkanen of the Utah Jazz is a shooting guard in a seven-footer's body. The All-Star forward is comfortable curling off of screens and catching on the move, and has a pure jumper that he can get off anywhere on the court. He's the modern successor of Dirk Nowitzki's combination of size and shooting (he's not as good as Dirk, but that's hardly a knock).

As the Thunder look at ways to upgrade their team moving forward, they need to be careful not to invest in a star who wouldn't fit well with the rest of their core. Markkanen, on the other hand, would fit like a glove. We discussed the potential fit of Markkanen and built a mock trade that the Thunder could offer this summer.