NBA Mock Trade: Could Thunder Land Brooklyn Nets Star Forward?

Should the Thunder try and make a move during the NBA trade deadline?

While the NBA world soon gets a rest as All-Star weekend is rapidly approaching, things are first going to get hectic. Across the world of professional sports, the trade deadline is becoming a hectic final day as teams can look drastically different in a span of 24 hours.

For the Oklahoma City Thunder, this hasn't exactly been a staple over their decade-and-a-half of existing. The one aspect of the trade deadline that has seen them make changes has been the buyout market, which is typically a fallout after the trade deadline when teams acquire players they have no future plans with.

Now, though, the Thunder is in seemingly every trade rumor or mock trade as they've got a warchest of draft picks to accompany their incredibly young core. Of course, The Ringer had some fun pre-trade deadline as they mocked a trade the Thunder is unlikely to do, but is fun in theory.

Zach Kram of The Ringer toyed with the idea of the Thunder making a splash of a trade, landing Mikal Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets. Landing Bridges wouldn't just be a blockbuster trade in the NBA, but it would shake up everything for the Thunder. 

Bridges would seemingly turn from his primary scorer role and star role to essentially a fluctuation of a second- to fourth-option. For the Thunder, they'd have to make a shuffle in the starting lineup.

Here's the proposed trade from Kram and The Ringer. 

To Thunder: Mikal Bridges

To Nets: Davis Bertans, Ousmane Dieng, five future first-round picks

This, of course, wouldn't impact the depth of the Thunder much, though they'd have to move on from Dieng, who is a project player the team drafted in 2022. With a project player, patience is required and things won't always be linear. Still, Dieng could fast-track some of his progress if he's able to acquire an expanded role on a rebuilding team. 

"The Nets reportedly want to keep and build around Bridges, so it would take a considerable overpay for a contender to pry him free. Luckily for the Thunder, all of Sam Presti’s dealing has left them capable of making such an offer—they could trade five firsts for Bridges and still have a surplus in the coming years," Kram wrote.

While the Thunder would immediately invest their first-round draft picks to become a likely contender, they can afford to move on from the picks. They're unlikely to use all of their first-round picks, and they hold more value now than they likely will when they're set to be used.

Evidently, this trade would be uncharacteristic, and would likely see one of Josh Giddey or Lu Dort hit the bench and become a new sixth man, it could make sense and work for both sides. 

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