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The Oklahoma City Thunder shocked the NBA world last season by ascending all the way to the Western Conference play-in tournament despite not having No. 2 overall pick Chet Holmgren. The highly-touted prospect was out for the season due to a foot injury, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took a massive leap as he finished fifth in MVP voting for the 2022-23 season.
Gilgeous-Alexander was the catalyst for their incredible success, along with Rookie of the Year runner-up Jalen Williams. Josh Giddey also leveled up in his second NBA season, giving the Thunder the look of a future championship contender.
Then during Thursday's 2023 NBA Draft, OKC moved up two spots in the first round to acquire Kentucky guard Cason Wallace as another ball handler and defender. Wallace will surely come off the bench to start the season, but coach Mark Daigneault has never been shy to let rookies learn on the fly with consistent minutes.
The Thunder have loads of future draft capital in addition to a talented young roster. If the team wants to make a win-now trade to accelerate its timeline toward real contention in 2023-24, OKC certainly has the assets.
Here's one trade target Oklahoma City should look at with the offseason in full swing.
Thunder trade target: Deandre Ayton
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The Thunder have an affinity for lengthy and athletic guards who can create well off the dribble. They have several of those guys on the roster already, so they must focus on other facets of team construction. Holmgren and Jaylin Williams are the only centers on the roster right now, and both are undersized for the position. Moreover, Holmgren is a fantastic shot-blocker, but he prefers attacking from the outside, so OKC is in dire need of a center who can anchor the paint.
Could Deandre Ayton be the Thunder's final piece of the puzzle? The Phoenix Suns big man was the No. 1 overall pick in 2018 and puts up solid box-score numbers on a nightly basis, but his lack of physicality and penchant for no-shows in big games have tarnished his reputation league-wide. Ayton and ex-Suns head coach Monty Williams did not have a pleasant relationship, either, as evidenced by his benching and arguments that were seen on national television.
Williams is gone, but the fit of Ayton as the fourth guy in Phoenix getting paid over $30 million for the next several years is not ideal for the organization. Despite their recent insistence otherwise, don't be surprised if the Suns ultimately opt for mored depth and financial flexibility around Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, trading Ayton either before tipoff of the regular season or leading up to the February trade deadline.
Ayton and Holmgren would be a snug fit because Ayton prefers the mid-range jumpers and floaters in the paint, while Holmgren attacks from all over the floor. The pairing makes even more sense on the other end, where Ayton can bang with star bigs like Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid while Holmgren roams as a towering help defender.
Ayton needs a change of scenery, and he would benefit immensely from playing with creators like Gilgeous-Alexander and Giddey. Some bigs on other teams are underutilized because their ball handlers fail to involve them consistently, but that would not be the case for Ayton in Oklahoma City. The Thunder already flourished last season with defenses focused on their dynamic young perimeter stars; they'd be even more dangerous going forward by slotting Ayton next to Holmgren up front.
