The 2024 NBA offseason is nearly here, which means front offices are about to spend their next few months reshaping their rosters. An avenue to do this is via the trade market.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are fresh off a first seed and a second-round exit in the 2024 NBA playoffs. Working with a treasure trove of draft picks and $35 million in cap space, they can easily make immediate upgrades to their roster.
Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley proposed one new trade idea for all 30 NBA teams. For the Thunder, their trade idea involved adding a scoring guard who can bring a punch off the bench — something they needed in the postseason.
The deal features the Thunder shipping Josh Giddey and the 2024 No. 12 pick to the Portland Trail Blazers for Anfernee Simons.
“Oklahoma City could instead dip into its asset pool to make a significant-but-not-internet-breaking addition. When the Thunder were undone this season, a lack of consistent creation around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the most common culprit. …
Swapping out Giddey to get Simons would cost the Thunder some size and defense, but the gains in self-sufficient scoring and space-creating shooting would be enormous.”
On a surface level, this deal makes a lot of sense for both sides. Giddey gets a fresh start and can return to a ballhandling playmaker role paired with Scoot Henderson. The No. 12 pick also provides the rebuilding Trail Blazers another lottery pick.
Simons provides the Thunder an outside shooter who can score his own buckets. The 24-year-old is also young enough to fit the timeline of this core. He averaged 22.6 points on 43% shooting, 5.5 assists and 3.6 rebounds last season. He shot 38.5% from 3 on 8.8 attempts.
Simons is also under contract for two more seasons at $53.6 million. It perfectly aligns with the Thunder’s payroll as the trio of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren will likely command high salaries soon.
Usually, mock trades are difficult to project into reality, but this is a solid deal that benefits both sides in many ways.
