Charlotte Hornets Receive: F/C Anthony Davis
Oklahoma City Thunder Receive: F Gordon Hayward, 2023 First-Round Pick (DEN via CHA), 2025 First-Round Pick (CHA), 2026 First-Round Pick (Swap – LAL), 2027 First-Round Pick (LAL)
Los Angeles Lakers Receive: G Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Like Nikola Vucevic, Gordon Hayward likely wouldn’t suit up for the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2022-23. They’d sideline him until they were able to find a trade for him. If they weren’t, he might be taking the year off.
Such is life in the National Basketball Association. The Thunder have shown a willingness to roster veterans they didn’t intend on playing before. If General Manager Sam Presti is getting draft picks, he doesn’t much else care who’s coming to OKC.
He can’t be blamed for that, either. The Thunder are a small-market club undertaking an ambitious rebuild. Presti has to lean into his team-building strategy, or else it’s destined to fail.
With that said, he doesn’t have to lean so hard into it that he trades Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. In all likelihood, he won’t. The safe money is by far on the star guard suiting up for the Thunder again in 2022-23.
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With that said, there could be an amount of draft capital that Presti would be unable to pass on.