Does this trade make sense for the Oklahoma City Thunder?
The Oklahoma City Thunder have acquired a plethora of draft picks through the years and the main reason for doing so is to try and build a sustainable, successful young core for the future. Not only does this give them the ability to draft high-level prospects, but to trade for All-Star-level players that they deem fits in their system.
Giving up two first-round picks and some young talents for Domantas Sabonis may seem like a ton of future value for most NBA franchises, but not the Oklahoma City Thunder. They have plenty of other draft picks to back up what they “lose” in this trade and the two picks they would be trading away really are not much of a loss.
Denver’s 2023 first-round pick is Top-14 Protected and even if it would convey to the Thunder, it would be anywhere from 20-30 given that the Nuggets are one of the better teams in the Western Conference annually.
As for Utah’s 2024 first-round pick, the same theory applies since the Jazz finished with the best record in the league last year. While this is three years down the road and hard to predict, it is safe to say that the Jazz are not going to be missing the playoffs anytime soon and that this will be an end of the first-round type of pick.
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Both first-round picks the Thunder would be trading away hold little value to them given that they would end up being late picks and both Maledon and Bazley are expendable for this franchise.
Theo Maledon and Darius Bazley have both seen their minutes and production decline this season, plus the Thunder have backcourt depth to get away with moving Maledon.
They do not have much frontcourt talent to replace Bazley, but that would be Sabonis’ job and he is a much better overall talent than that of Darius Bazley both now and in the future.
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If Oklahoma City is looking for a move to take the next step in their rebuilding process this season, then going after Domantas Sabonis would be a great move for them. They would be trading away enough value, but to them, this is very little value to replace given all the assets they have.
Sabonis can fill an immediate need in this team’s frontcourt, as well as be the face of this franchise alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for the foreseeable future. There is no downside to this trade for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
