With the playoffs set to start in somewhat over every week, the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder’s full, undivided consideration can be devoted in direction of making it deep into the postseason and even successful a championship. At current, they’ve the most effective report within the NBA, a deep group with elite defenders and shooters throughout a number of positions, they usually have all of the makings of a championship group — with MVP favourite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander main the best way.
The scariest half concerning the Thunder is that they’re arrange for sustainable contending success for the years to come back; they’ve a deep treasure chest of draft picks, to allow them to presumably commerce for any celebrity participant that turns into out there. Thus, it’s not the tip of the world for OKC in the event that they fail to win all of it this 12 months, as they’ll both run it again subsequent 12 months and compete but once more or commerce for an additional celebrity to really take the group to the subsequent degree.
To that finish, maybe a reunion with a former star of theirs, Kevin Durant, might work wonders; the Phoenix Suns are anticipated to be a serious promoting group this summer season, and a Durant commerce could possibly be the simplest approach for them to replenish their depleted draft-pick cabinet. It isn’t fairly clear how a lot the Thunder devoted would welcome such a commerce contemplating the controversial method with which Durant exited in 2016, however one factor’s for certain: OKC would be the undisputed title favourite in 2026 in the event that they in some way handle to drag off such a commerce.
With that mentioned, that is the commerce package deal that the Thunder should give as much as the Suns in a possible Durant deal.
Thunder go all-in, reunite with Kevin Durant
Thunder commerce: Alex Caruso, Nikola Subject, Isaiah Joe, Ousmane Dieng, Kenrich Williams, 2025 OKC first-round choose, 2027 DEN first-round choose (protected 1-5)
Suns commerce: Kevin Durant
Matching salaries would be the most troublesome a part of any hypothetical commerce that may convey Kevin Durant again to Oklahoma Metropolis. It is unlikely, within the occasion that the Thunder resolve to commerce for Durant, that they offer up any member of their beginning 5 though a type of gamers (presumably Isaiah Hartenstein) should come off the bench on this hypothetical world.
Hartenstein’s $28.5 million contract for the 2025-26 season would be the best start line for any Durant commerce dialog. However Hartenstein patches up considered one of OKC’s greatest weaknesses (rebounding), and he has confirmed to be the proper frontcourt companion for the extra finesse Chet Holmgren.
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Once more, Hartenstein appears to be the likeliest participant to maneuver out of the beginning 5 (OKC, one would assume, can be rolling with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort, Jalen Williams, Durant, and Holmgren of their beginning 5 on this actuality), however he has emerged as such a essential piece that it is unlikely for OKC to half methods with him.
Alex Caruso, alternatively, is a distinct dialog. Caruso could also be an all-world defender, however he is not as indispensable as some might imagine. He ought to play an enormous function for the Thunder of their upcoming playoff run, however with OKC having different elite perimeter defenders resembling Dort and Cason Wallace round, it is not as if Caruso is an untouchable participant who will not be out there within the occasion that Durant expresses curiosity in a reunion.
Caruso can also be vulnerable to selecting up minor harm knocks; he has missed 26 video games this season, and it is not just like the Thunder want him that badly to anchor their league-leading protection. And with a mean annual wage of round $20.3 million for the subsequent 4 seasons, the 31-year-old is probably going to provide approach within the occasion that OKC pursues a Durant commerce.
The difficult half now’s including simply the correct quantity of items to make a commerce worthwhile for the Suns. To that finish, the Thunder can be including their 2024 first-round choose, Nikola Subject. Subject hasn’t performed all 12 months after struggling a torn ACL, however he has drawn rave evaluations for his capability to get to the ring and dish the rock. He could possibly be the perfect backcourt companion for Devin Booker, however in OKC, Gilgeous-Alexander will all the time have the controls, and Subject is not precisely adept at spacing the ground, making it unlikely for him to interrupt by means of in an enormous function subsequent season.
Isaiah Joe is likely to be essentially the most troublesome inclusion on this commerce; each contending group wants a shooter of Joe’s caliber, and he’s an X-factor who can change video games within the Thunder’s favor when he runs scorching from deep. However between him and Aaron Wiggins, it is likely to be smarter for OKC to incorporate Joe (for salary-matching functions), as Wiggins offers them extra positional versatility. Plus, Wiggins did save basketball.
With the inclusion of Subject and Joe, the Thunder would not need to half methods with their finest first-round picks. They will embrace their very own first-round choose in 2025 (which would be the thirtieth choose), in addition to the Denver Nuggets’ choose in 2027 (shielded from 1-5). It is unlikely for the Nuggets to be a horrible group anyway by then since Nikola Jokic ought to nonetheless be at his finest in two years, and OKC would wish to preserve the Miami Warmth and Philadelphia 76ers’ first-round picks for themselves.
Durant is within the closing 12 months of his deal, and with the Suns missing leverage, that is about so far as OKC ought to go in any potential commerce for the veteran star, who can be 37 years outdated by the point the 2025-26 season rolls round.