Oklahoma City Thunder Receive: G/F Evan Fournier, G/F Cam Reddish, G Immanuel Quickley, 2023 First-Round Pick (NYK), 2024 First-Round Pick (NYK), 2025 First-Round Pick (Swap – NYK), 2026 First-Round Pick (NYK), 2027 First-Round Pick (Swap – NYK), 2028 First-Round Pick (NYK)
New York Knicks Receive: G Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Of course, there’s a reason the league’s rumor mill churns so aggressively in 2022. Player movement has reached an all-time high in the modern era.
That’s largely due to the proliferation of player empowerment – or at least, star player empowerment. By now, if an elite player in this league wants to be moved, they’re overwhelmingly likely to force the issue.
As a result, teams are even quicker to trade players. When a situation appears to be going south, a team may move a player before they demand a trade, and impact their trade value in the process.
That appears to be what happened between Donovan Mitchell and the Utah Jazz.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: New York Knicks & Oklahoma City Thunder Updates
Mitchell never publicly demanded a trade, but with the Jazz constantly falling short of expectations, it felt like he could at any moment.
It’s not hard to conjure up the same feelings about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Oklahoma City. Could the Thunder get ahead of the issue by moving him this summer?
