NBA Mock Trade: OKC Thunder Nab Spurs’ Big Man

With a bevy of future draft assets, the Oklahoma City Thunder have been perpetually linked to most NBA trade targets.

Typically, it’s teams who could be looking to “sell” rather than “buy” at the deadline: Chicago, Atlanta, Washington, etc.

One of the lesser talked about names is big man Zach Collins, who’s currently a key piece of San Antonio’s new rebuild, and if anything are likely buyers this deadline.

At 6-foot-11, Collins seems to have finally found a clean health streak among an NBA start full of injury woes. He played just 11 games in the 2019-20 season, and missed the 2020-21 season entirely.

Outside of his down year from beyond the arc — just 28% to last seasons 37% — Collins is having a career year. He’s averaging a career best in points at 12.1 per game, is coming down with 5.7 rebounds and, perhaps most importantly to the Thunder’s system, is dishing a career 3.1 assists per game.

In Oklahoma City’s “sharing is caring” system, it makes traditional-style big men with little feel for the game a tough sell. But Collins, with the ability to move the ball some and stretch out beyond the arc, fits like a glove.

Even better, while he’s not an adept defender, he’s certainly feisty, averaging 0.7 blocks and 0.6 steals. With OKC, he wouldn’t necessarily be relied on as the primary paint defender, similarly to his role alongside rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama now.

Here’s what it might take OKC to pry Collins away from San Antonio:

Oklahoma City gets: Zach Collins

San Antonio gets: Vasilije Micic, 2024 first round pick

Collins is on an expiring deal, raising both his asking price ever so slightly and giving him a bit of an unknown factor. Still, San Antonio having given him a fresh NBA start and presumably being on an upwards trajectory over the next few years will likely give them a great chance at re-signing him.

In order for OKC to pry him away, they’ll likely need to attach a decent amount of draft capital and include a player San Antonio could potentially covet.

In this instance, we’ve went with Vasilije Micic, who has extremely similar salary to Collins and has signed on cheaply for a few more years. Micic would unlock plenty with Wembanyama, as he’s already done some in OKC’s second unit with Chet Holmgren. The former EuroLeague MVP would certainly shore up plenty of the point guard woes in San Antonio.

While the 2024 picks aren’t going for as much as future drafts, coming away with a first round pick for a player who’s set to be a free agent in a matter of months is decent.

All in all, OKC may end up having to overpay, but it could be worth it for any potential upcoming playoff run.