2 players Thunder must trade in order to get back to NBA Finals after Spurs loss

The Oklahoma City Thunder organization knew that building a dynasty was never going to be easy. Be that as it may, the Thunder must have expected that they would at least get a chance to win back-to-back championships. Alas, they ran into the San Antonio Spurs, the team that dominated them all season long, and lost to them in seven games in the Western Conference Finals — with OKC losing at home in Game 7, 111-103.

The bill is going to come due soon for this Thunder team, as contending teams tend to get really pricey in a hurry. The max contracts for both Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, being from the 2022 NBA Draft class, are set to kick in next season. Cason Wallace is going to be eligible for a contract extension.

Simply put, Sam Presti is going to have his work cut out for him in terms of determining which players the Thunder must keep moving forward, especially as it relates to their huge player salary payroll.

With all that said, here are the two players the Thunder must trade to get themselves back on track as a dynasty after a humbling WCF defeat to the Spurs.

Unpopular opinion alert: Thunder should not trade Chet Holmgren

Holmgren became the laughingstock of the NBA world for his putrid performance in Game 7 against the Spurs. Victor Wembanyama already had a habit of making him look small, but he seemed to have internalized this as well.

The 7’1″ big man out of Gonzaga tallied just four points and four rebounds in 33 minutes of play, and his passiveness was apparent from the get-go. In the fourth quarter, he barely looked at the basket and he never demanded the basketball. He seemed to be content to just be a passenger for the Thunder even though his team was on the brink of elimination.

He had a few opportunities to attack Wembanyama but refused to do so, instead handing the ball off to the Thunder guards. For a man who signed a five-year, $239.5 million contract which kicks in at the start of next season, that is not the kind of performance that will endear him to the OKC brass.

Many on social media have floated the idea of trading Holmgren away as the centerpiece of a potential Giannis Antetokounmpo trade package. Antetokounmpo would be incredible on this Thunder team as an unstoppable rim force who can take away a ton of pressure from Gilgeous-Alexander, especially in big games.

But this Thunder team should not overreact just because they lost Game 7 by eight points to a team that’s just coming into their own. It’s not like OKC got swept; they pushed the Spurs to the brink and required them to make big shots in Game 7, which they did over and over again. Those two teams are not far off in quality whatsoever.

There’s also the fact that the Thunder’s two most reliable scorers outside of Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Ajay Mitchell, were out injured for most of the series. Had OKC been fully healthy, Holmgren’s offensive struggles may be nothing more than a footnote, especially if they made it to the NBA Finals.

Trading Holmgren away is a disservice to the Thunder squad as a whole. They built this team through the draft, and Holmgren is a major success story. Just this past season, he made it to the All-NBA Third Team after averaging 17.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game. He finished second in the Defensive Player of the Year voting.

The moment got too big for Holmgren in the WCF against Wembanyama, but he’s only 24 years of age and has plenty of time to grow from this learning moment.

Many who’ll come across this piece will be looking for an explanation as to why the Thunder should trade Holmgren and what package they could realistically get for him. But that is roster-building shortsightedness, and Presti does not do anything of the sort — not ever since he learned from the James Harden lesson back in 2012.

Lu Dort’s time is up

Dort is another major success story for the Thunder. He’s been with the team since the 2019-20 season, and as an undrafted player, he’s done quite well for himself. But this OKC team is growing at a pace that simply might be too fast for Dort.

Wallace is clearly a much better player than Dort, as he is a sufficient ball-handler, a reliable spot-up shooter, and is straight-up one of the best on-ball defenders in the NBA. Dort does not provide any ballhandling, rim pressure, and he’s a more offensively volatile player than Wallace.

Wallace and Alex Caruso were the preferred two-guard options over Dort throughout the 2026 WCF. Williams, when healthy, gets the brunt of the minutes at the three.

Mitchell will get a ton of minutes when healthy and he’s shown in the Los Angeles Lakers series that he’s capable of stepping up into more responsibilities on offense for the team. Isaiah Joe even has utility as a movement shooter off the pine. Even Jared McCain has separated himself as a key piece of this OKC roster.

With the Thunder’s cap sheet being loaded, it makes sense for OKC to trade Dort away. Dort is a key member of the Thunder identity of lockdown defense and brute physicality, but the Thunder wing/backcourt picture has become so crowded that he’s become the odd man out.

It’s not quite clear what OKC could get for Dort in a trade, but getting a few assets in return for him, should he accept his team option, would be good business for the Thunder.

Nikola Topic does not have a role on this OKC squad

Topic was one of the most highly-touted prospects of the 2024 NBA Draft class, and he slipped to the Thunder due to injury concerns. But since then, the Thunder have just built for themselves a loaded backcourt. In Gilgeous-Alexander, Wallace, Caruso, Mitchell, and McCain, the Thunder already have five players to occupy two spots in the backcourt, and that’s without factoring in Dort, Joe, and Aaron Wiggins.

Topic could blossom into a quality piece for another team, as he’s only 20 years of age, but it’s unlikely that he does so for OKC considering how loaded their backcourt is. Wallace and McCain are only 22. Mitchell is only a year older than them. And they’re more established in this OKC squad than Topic is all while not being much older than them.

The world will expect the Thunder to make a seismic change, perhaps pursuing Antetokounmpo or another star. But that’s just not necessary for this elite team that just came up short against a fellow elite squad in the Spurs. Making moves on the margins, like dealing away Dort and Topic, perhaps for future draft assets, feels more like the OKC way of doing business.

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