The Oklahoma City Thunder have been one of the most pleasant surprises in the NBA during the 2023-24 regular season. With less than two weeks until the trade deadline, the Thunder are in a position to be buyers as one of the contenders in the league.
They are currently tied with the Minnesota Timberwolves for first place in the Western Conference with a 32-14 record. The only thing holding the Thunder back is experience, as they have a young roster lacking in playoff experience.
Teams this young are usually hard to take seriously as contenders this early on, but Oklahoma City has everything you want to see from a potential champion. They have an MVP candidate in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a strong supporting cast led by All-Star caliber players in Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams.
No one would blame the Thunder for staying pat ahead of the deadline and reassessing the roster in the offseason. That way they can identify which areas of the team need to be upgraded to continue ascending.
Alas, if you are playing this well, you want to capitalize. While the Thunder looks like they could have sustained success, nothing is guaranteed. If general manager Sam Presti wants to make a few moves to bolster the team’s outlook for the remainder of the 2023-24 NBA season, no one would blame him for that, either.
Over at ESPN, former NBA front office personnel member and insider Bobby Marks has suggested just that. He would love to see the Thunder make a trade with the Chicago Bulls centered around center Andre Drummond.
“The addition of Drummond addresses one of the Thunder’s lone weaknesses, defensive rebounding. The Thunder rank 29th in defensive rebounding percentage and opponents have scored 15 second-chance points per game, second best among all teams.
Per Cleaning the Glass, Drummond ranks in the 100th percentile at his position in offensive and defensive rebounding. In only 15.9 minutes per game, he is averaging 8.4 rebounds. When he was pressed into starting duty when Nikola Vucevic was out, Drummond averaged 17.4 rebounds per game over seven games,” Marks wrote.
What would it cost the Thunder to acquire Drummond? Marks suggested Oklahoma City send Aleksej Pokusevski, a 2025 second-round pick (via Philadelphia), and two 2027 second-round picks (via Philadelphia and Minnesota) to get the job done.
Trading away three second-round picks is certainly a steep price, especially when taking into consideration that Drummond is on an expiring contract. However, with 21 second-round picks at their disposal, this won’t even leave a dent for Oklahoma City.
With an abundance of draft capital, it makes sense for the Thunder to cash in eventually. They will not be making all of those selections and turning their excess picks into established players to fill a specific role is a good way of doing business.
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