Gordon Hayward Trade Proves To Live up to Multidimensional Billing

The Gordon Hayward swap at the NBA Trade Deadline proves valuable and multidimensional for Oklahoma City Thunder as Sam Presti foreshadowed.

Apr 3, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Gordon Hayward (33) gets set to inbound the ball during the first half against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports / Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

As the Oklahoma City Thunder ink Isaiah Hartenstein to a three-year $87 Million deal deal representing the biggest free agent signing in team history, it is important to remember how things got to this point.

A franchise that has never landed a massive free agent on the open market as Hartenstein dethrones the likes of Patrick Patterson at the top of the list, this luxury was only afforded to the OKC Thunder by the groundwork the team laid way back in February when it was evident this organization was on the precipice of something special.

At the NBA Trade Deadline, the Oklahoma City Thunder pulled off a three-for-one swap sending Tre Mann, Vasilije Micic and Davis Bertans along with second-round picks to Charlotte to net Gordon Hayward, an expiring contract veteran who afforded the Thunder more cap flexibility while in the meantime potentially mitigating scoring lulls.

While this trade certainly didn't pan out on the hardwood, off the court, it was a massive success as Hayward's money evaporated from the books allowing the Thunder to ink Hartenstein to such a massive three-year pact to bolster their ready-made roster with a big man who fits like a glove.

Perhaps what helped the Thunder land the seven-footer was their ready-made space as the Knicks were working tirelessly to figure out how to get under the cap - imagine if Oklahoma City never pulled off the deadline trade with the Buzz City Crew, they would be frantically searching for ways to offload Mann, Micic and the like to capitalize on this opportunity.

With other teams catching wind of that in such a hypothetical the cost of moving those deals would've skyrocketed. The foresight by the franchise was the first domino to fall in landing Hartenstein, which top-executive Sam Presti foreshadowed back in May.

“It was a multiple dimension trade for us. There was one like that a long time ago that I felt worked like that, too, whether we traded Serge for Victor and Sabonis, and I felt that that would have made that particular team, if it stayed together, extraordinarily difficult to beat," Presti said "If Kevin were to leave, I still felt like we were going to be good with those particular players under team control going forward versus Serge going to a free agent year."

"It's very rare in the league that you can get to the point where a trade fits those parameters. I thought the Hayward trade did that for us. I would have liked it to have worked out better for Gordon, but that's just the way it goes.” the Thunder General Manager continued at his annual exit interview in May.

As Shakespeare says "All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts" Hayward's part in the Thunder's play was to clear cap space to grab the franchise's biggest free agent signing.

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