Thunder trade rumors now ESCALATING | An OKC reunion?

Over the years, the Thunder have had plenty of talent that's gone to make a name for itself elsewhere, but is it time to call maybe one of those players back with the Thunder in dire need of assistance? Brian Windhorst certainly seems to think so in his report that he put out here this week in the Thunder after their first loss of the year in a blowout. Loss on the road against Dallas in a game that the Thunder pretty much from halftime never really stood a chance, a game that was very demoralizing to watch for this team where, I mean, not even a week ago, or I guess just over a week ago, the Thunder end up going on the road to San Antonio, picking up a statement win to begin the season, and oh my goodness, how things can change in such a short time. I mean, this season has gone down a path that nobody could have expected, and I don't think I don't think that anybody's vision of a Thunder Championship is... 38 combined minutes of Josh Dix and Brooks Barnheiser hoops where they have a combined plus minus of minus 36. Obviously not the way that you drew it up. So that leads to some of the questions league-wide and obviously facilitating back with Oklahoma City of what do you do to get better? Well, Brian Windhorst drawing some links to a potential Thunder reunion. Here is what he had to say when he was on ESPN yesterday saying if they're going to acquire a player, Would not be surprised if they acquire a player they've already had. This is a little bit of a clue and not one that's just necessarily baseless on its entire face. I mean, more of a scoop than anything. Windy, he's tapped in with a lot of the general managers around the league, and most of them try to speculate exactly what Sam Presti is going to do at any point in time, but none of them have been able to read his mind. And so the idea being... Well, the belief from the league and from the general managers and the people that he has talked to is that the Thunder may try to go after somebody that they have already had before. There are several players that would fit that description, number one being the guy that you see right there on the left of this graphic, Ty Jerome. And Sam was asked about this whole roster potential acquisition standpoint of things in his press conference that he had earlier this week when he announced the... extent of the injuries from J-Dub and Kaysen, and he had said at that point in time that he hadn't thought even a little bit about anything relating to a potential roster spot, but you know exactly what the Thunder need, at least at this point in time. A team that has always crowned itself on point of attack defense, absolute sheer chaos on the perimeter. You don't have any of it right now. You're down these two guys and Kaysen and J-Dub for the entire season, pretty much. And then you're also, as of right now, down Alex Caruso, who's a former all-defensive teamer, and Chet Holmgren, who's the reigning defensive MVP runner-up. So the Thunder right now are down their four best defenders. They traded away Lou Dort. And so you have gone from being the most vaunted defense in the league to being far and away a shell of yourself. So the Thunder's point-of-attack defense. Really a struggle right now. Secondary creation besides Shea and SGA, a presence that can intimidate defenses and force them to respect some of those other guys on the floor in reliable minutes without sacrificing any true chance of winning a game. And previously, the Thunder wouldn't have really had a ton of issues guarding a guy like Cooper Flagg, obviously, a forward who plays more like a guard sometimes, has that big frame. The Thunder had no answers for him last night. And last season... If the Thunder were fully healthy last year, you've got three to four guys on this roster who you feel just fine going toe-to-toe with Cooper Flagg, but that's not the case anymore right now, and so the thought out there would be you are in the prime window of your back-to-back MVP. You've got Shea Gilders-Alexander, who is the best player in the world, and you've got to maximize his title window, so how do the Thunder go and do that? Couple players that we're going to get into and how exactly this can happen, we'll start with Ty Jerome, we'll go into these disabled player exceptions, the traded player exceptions that Thunder have, go over what those all exactly look like, kind of in one comprehensive rundown. And so the Thunder have a couple of disabled player exceptions that they'd be eligible for, one for J-Dub and one for Cason. The one for J-Dub would be worth between $14 to $15 million. The one for Cason would be worth about $3.5 million. Basically, it sums up to around 50% of that player who's injured's total value of their contract for that given year. Cason's new extension hasn't taken into effect yet, so he would only be the $3.5-ish million range for 50%. It's not necessarily cap relief. This wouldn't just be a free $14 million or a free $3.5 million. that the Thunder can just bring in with no consequences. It's a replacement on your roster that doesn't hurt you. They give you exceptions to be able to bring that player in, but the salary of the injured player and of the new player that you bring in, they both are on your books and can hurt you in the tax. The trade-a-player exception is something very similar as well, basically saying that even if you're above the tax, Typically, they'd say you've got to have one in and one out in terms of financial value. Well, the Thunder can absorb some extra money now, up to $28 million combined, although the three separate TPEs cannot be combined into one player. You've got one that's worth $17 million with Lou Dort. You've got one that's worth $11 million with Isaiah Joe. And one that's worth around $7.5 million for Aaron Wiggins. You can't go sign a free agent. You can't stack them all together. And so the real cost of this is basically what are you willing to pay. And the Thunder right now are dangerously close to the second apron. To the point where they had to shed those players that we just talked about before this season began. So the exception that you can get doesn't erase the salary charge. Just keep that in mind. It's a stored exception that gives you permission essentially to go out and get these players. Add them to your roster, basically taking over a roster spot of that injured player that is out for the season. And at the same time, there is also a big hidden trade cost involved with all of this. The Thunder have got the draft capital. They've got the young players that have been on the roster that haven't been contributors. Nikola Topic, Thomas Sorber is good options. You've got Isaiah Hartenstein, who wouldn't be eligible to be traded until December 15th because he just signed a new deal. You've got Alex Caruso, who he may be one that's out the door next summer. If you have to try to figure out how to cut some more costs to keep this core together. But all of those guys you would say could potentially be on the table for the Thunder to look at if it makes sense. So let's talk about the main guy now that was involved and teased by Brian Windhorst, Ty Jerome, fitting the reunion clue. And he definitely does when you consider some of what he's able to bring and the fact that he has been listed as a potential trade candidate by the Memphis Grizzlies. Here this early season, Ty Jerome has started off incredibly heat, incredibly hot to this season, but Memphis, after going out and getting Cam Boozer in the draft, they've got Cedric Coward as a young guard as well. They seem like they're wanting to build around that core more than a getting into the later part of his career, Ty Jerome, and he's on a fairly cheap contract right now, renegotiation being up for next summer. A strong start could certainly raise the asking price on that. When you look at the four-game surge that Ty Jerome has had this season, I mean, he's averaging nearly 20 points a game. You see the shooting percentage right there that is 61.6%. His three-point shot has been top 35 in the league so far this year. The dude, obviously... Knows what it means to be in OKC. No need to Photoshop something like this. Ty Jerome has already worn the Thunder blue and orange before. And last season, on a full sample size, what he can bring to the table. And actually, this is what he's done so far this year. I kind of mixed those up. So far this year, he's averaging nearly 30 points a game. I was about to say, I feel like I kind of had that the other way around. And so he has been ridiculous in terms of his bulk scoring this year. And some of the creation that he'd bring to this team, it wouldn't necessarily fill the defensive holes that you have, but offensively, he would be a perfect addition as a creator, as a pick-and-roll ball handler, as just somebody that can relieve the offensive workload now that gets left behind by J-Dub and gets left behind by Kason. And this is what Jerome's contract would look like for the next two years, making sub-$10 million. You'd have potentially a renegotiation next summer, which would be one that you probably just crossed that bridge at that point in time. A trade in my eyes for Ty Jerome would look something like this. I see the Thunder trading away Nikola Topić, trading away one of their three first-round picks for this year, and trading away a second-round pick for this season as well. You go get rid of Topić and his salary, you bring in Ty Jerome's salary, and you stay underneath the second apron in doing that, and in the same time, you help Shea out. Without necessarily just going to try to find an exact replica for J-Dub in all of the strengths that he brings in. The Thunder wouldn't be using one of their DPEs in this standpoint because they can't. Ty Jerome still has multiple years left on his deal. And it would be that same familiar reunion, that solution, that seems like it would make sense for this team. And this would entirely come down to a couple of things, one being if Sam Presti decides he is interested, and two being exactly what the Grizzlies would ask, considering Ty Jerome's hot start to this fresh season, as I mentioned. But! There are other options for Oklahoma City, so don't forget about that. There's other players out there that could fit more into that designated, that disabled player exception. One of those guys being one the Thunder played in the postseason last year, I'm looking at Rui Hachimura, and several of these guys are Clippers extensions right now, and I think that we're all pretty pissed off at the Clippers at this moment in time because of, obviously, that being your opponent when you lost both J-Dub and Kason. The dirty nature behind Chris Dunn shoving J-Dub in the back to force him off balance and landing on his foot. Rui Hachimura has been one of the most consistent three-point shooters in the last three seasons. He's not exactly gotten off to the greatest start as a shooter this year. You see his percentage is pretty low, but he is a forward. He's an offensive-minded forward. He's tall. He's got some skill sets that can help you translate offensively and give you a little bit more size that you have on this roster that's now missing. He is on a two-year deal, so this wouldn't be a straight-up DPE either. He's making a little bit more money than some of these other guys as well, so that would be a hard thing to do in there. Along with the fact that he cannot be traded until December 15th due to the new contract limitations of him signing the new deal. And he comes with his strengths and with his weaknesses. He gets some size, you get a scorer, you get a lights-out three-point shooter, doesn't necessarily replace some of the playmaking or the on-ball defense, and he's got a pretty reasonable contract. And then on top of that, the Clippers link yet again, adding on to their not only Rui Hachimura but Derrick Jones Jr. as a proposed option from ESPN. Since this whole Thunder situation has devolved into the way that it has, an expiring deal would give the Thunder options to go after that DPE, would give them a chance to use this in that true sense, be able to have it work out to where you don't necessarily have to trade a player in his return, but I would imagine the Clippers would need something in exchange for Derrick Jones Jr., who fits more of that on-ball... Big perimeter defender who can also kind of be versatile and go do his thing. 6'6", 210 pounds, points right around 10 points per game. You see his shooting splits, but more importantly for me is his defensive presence, the steals percentage, the blocks that he's getting this year as well, and his relatively cheap contract of only $10.5 million for just one year. I see the Thunder having to give up something similar, Nikola Topic giving up a first round pick. Basically, I have them giving the Clippers pick back to them. in order to get this Derrick Jones Jr. trade done and get yourself another forward, get yourself a wing who's defensive-minded that can be a stationary shooter when he needs. Now, another player, the last player that I'll give in this video before we wrap this thing on up is a player from the New Orleans Pelicans, Herb Jones, who has had an abysmal start to this season. Last year, this is what he did in a pretty full year of miserable Pelicans basketball, 6'7". And he is a true forward that is not an offensive guy really at all. Defense is his game. He commits a lot of fouls. And this year, the offense has been even worse than usual. Look at those numbers. I mean, P-U. Yeah, no, this is a horrible option for the Thunder. I don't like this at all. And I've seen some people linking the Thunder to Herb Jones. No, please don't do this, Sam. This would be horrible. His fits, I don't think even matter at all with the trade-offs that he would give you. I hate everything about it. So that's kind of all the players that I think you could probably throw in here. Ty Jerome being the one that would make the most sense from the Windhorse update. You've got Rui Hachimura. You've got some wing. Defense with Derrick Jones Jr., I would be in favor of that one. Let me know what you guys would want to see down in the comments. What would you most prioritize, or do you think that Sam Presti should just stay put and wait for the rest of the guys to come back? Caruso, Chet, Sorber, who seems like he may be closer to coming back than what we maybe have been since he's gotten into OKC, wait for the rest to come back. What would your priority be here? And last thing in this video as well, the Thunder with all of this now, they have fallen to 5% behind the Spurs as favorites to be NBA champions. A $50 wager would get you to 262.66 if you were to trade it on Kalshi today. Kalshi sponsoring today's video, go click the link, put in DigestNBA as your promo code on this, and you'll get $55 in bonus funds on your first $25 trade. The difference with Kalshi being that you're not trading against the house, you're trading against other users on real-life events like sports, like pop culture, music, weather, all the things like that. So go check them out down below with the link in the description. Now our comment spotlight for the video as we get on out of here. This one coming from Creative Cherokee Native. I'm telling you, if I'm his Thunder teammates, I'm giving 150% the remainder of the season in winning the championship for J-Dub. Go out there, let it be a team uniting event. The team will be tighter than ever and more motivated for Dub's sake. I think that when the rest of the crew comes back, that may be true. I think the Thunder as of right now in their current state, what they showed against Dallas. I think that if this team was the team you're rolling out all season, the Thunder probably would be an eight seed or maybe even be a play-in team if you had to throw this group of players out all season. But Chet's going to come back. You're going to get Caruso back. You're going to get Sorber thrown in here. You're going to get Topic Soren in here. So I think the Thunder will have vast improvements when that happens, but you're not going to be the same team as when you had J-Dub and when you had Kaysen. So that's just the reality of the situation. And it's sad. I mean, I get moments of existential dread every day just thinking about what this season could be and what it should be and what we were robbed of. But yeah, let me know your thoughts on all this down below. We'll see you guys for more breakdowns in the future. And we'll see you then here on the channel.