The Oklahoma City Thunder don't have many needs heading into the trade deadline this year since they have openly embraced the rebuilding process, which will take even more time to complete.
If they do decide to trade some of their draft picks, they may do so to help speed up the process, but it is very doubtful that they will do so this season, given their 14-34 record and slim chances of making the playoffs. It would be far better of a decision for the franchise to wait until the summer to make any moves.
Despite the fact that Oklahoma City has just 14 victories on the season, they must be happy with how some of their games have gone. With their lack of wins, they have been able to compete against some of the league's best opponents and have looked far better than most expected them to appear heading into the season.
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Thunder Biggest Need
What does the future hold?
The most important question for this Thunder team is what they will want to do to speed up the rebuilding process. They have demonstrated that they have some extremely skilled players on their team, and if they can keep individuals like Josh Giddey, Lu Dort, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander together on this team, they may be a squad that can find some success in this league if they do partner them next to the right role pieces.
They must also consider what they want to do with some of the draft selections. They definitely have a lot, and that is likely the best trade assest any team could have. If they want to speed up the process, they may either maintain their draft pick and hope to hit gold in some of the drafts, or they can swap a couple of these picks for a star, or they can go out and grab some valuable components to pair next to their three young players.
The Thunders' front office will have to make a difficult decision in either direction, but dealing with a couple of their players before this year's deadline might be the start of something great. Oklahoma City might elect to try to recieve some crucial role players who they believe will help the club win games this season, or they could wait until the summer to make their moves.
There's no need for them to go wild during this year's deadline, unless they want to deal a couple of their older players for draft selections or younger talent, and then wait until the summer to see if they can sign one of the major free agents, or continue attempting to trade for players with the draft picks they currently have.
Oklahoma City needs to continue being smart with what they are doing. Their front office has done a great job the past few years of getting the correct pieces to help build a title contender one day. If they make one wrong move all of their hard work can go down the drain.
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