OKC Thunder

With all of the draft picks they have and some young, high-level talents in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Darius Bazley, the Oklahoma City Thunder are going to be a very good team in the NBA for years to come, it is just a matter of getting that first domino to fall. 

Trading for DeMar DeRozan to be one of the leaders of their organization would do wonders for the Thunder, especially since they are set to be one of the younger teams in the league. The Thunder owns the rights to 19 first-round draft picks over the course of the next 7 NBA drafts and between first and second-round picks, they now own the rights to 33 draft picks through the 2027 NBA Draft.

Not only do the Thunder have enough draft picks to continue drafting high-level talents, but they can pull off a trade for DeRozan and possibly one or two more All-Star level players. They have the assets and the salary space to turn this team into a legit title contender, which is why they should make the move for DeRozan now. 

The Thunder may not be a championship contender this season, but if they were able to get DeRozan for one to two more years, as well as another All-Star talent and a young star in the draft, then there is no reason why the Oklahoma City Thunder couldn’t be one of the top teams in the league in just a year. 

Who knows what Sam Presti and the Oklahoma City Thunder front office plan on doing with all of these draft picks and some of the veteran players on their roster, but they not only have the assets to pull off numerous blockbuster trades in the future, but could have as much as $60M in cap space next offseason.

It makes perfect sense for the Thunder to go after a veteran leader like DeRozan either this season or next offseason. The only question is whether it is worth trading away some first-round picks for a guy in the final year of his contract.