Oklahoma City Thunder Receive: G Eric Bledsoe, G Killian Hayes, 2022 First-Round Pick (POR), 2024 First-Round Pick (DET), 2025 First-Round Pick (Lottery Protected – POR)
Portland Trail Blazers Receive: F Jerami Grant
Detroit Pistons Receive: G Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
This deal feels significantly more plausible.
The Detroit Pistons don’t have to break their draft pick bank to bring SGA into the fold with Portland’s inclusion. The Thunder still receive comparable draft compensation, but two of the picks come from the Blazers. The protections on the 2025 pick would be up for debate.
Meanwhile, the Thunder do what they’ve done best in recent times. They take on a bad veteran contract in Bledsoe as a means of adding draft picks. Taking a flier on Killian Hayes doesn’t hurt either.
As a fellow non-shooting playmaker, he’s probably a poor fit with Giddey as well. Such a poor fit that the Thunder stand to lose a pile of games in 2022-23 trying to make it work. Perfect.
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Meanwhile, the Blazers seem intent on competing for as long as Damian Lillard is on the roster. They’re almost the anti-Thunder.
Given their organizational philosophy, they shouldn’t mind parting with draft capital to add a fringe All-Star like Grant. It appears that there is a path to an SGA-to-Detroit swap: it just requires a third party.
