Filling In: Poeltl Could Offer Thunder Expanded Post Presence

Oklahoma City has a glaring piece missing from its lineup: a true center.

There’s a few high profile centers on the trade block prior to the Thursday trade deadline.

Most have a high asking price, like Myles Turner, but San Antonio’s Jakob Poeltl has the talent and a price, which the Thunder could easily fill.

Poeltl comes in at 7-foot-1 and 245 pounds, which fills a massive hole for OKC.

Poetl has given the Spurs a boost, but for the right price the Thunder could have him squeeze into the five-spot in their rotation. He is averaging just over 13 points and nine rebounds per game this season, while shooting 61.4% from the field. For the Spurs he’s played in 44 games this season and started 43 of those.

Oklahoma City has loads of potential cap space and an open roster spot that could be filled at the deadline.

Rookie Jeremiah Robinson-Earl has held down the center role so far this season, and has done well, tallying 7.1 points and nearly six rebounds per game.

However, rebounding has been a major deficiency on the Thunder roster, with rookie guard Josh Giddey leading the way. Poeltl would help tremendously in that area on the glass. Poeltl, at just 26-years-old, would be on the older end of the Thunder roster, which has an average age of 22.7.

A trade for Poeltl, while filling the need for a center, wouldn't hurt the Thunder tanking efforts. The Thunder want a high lottery pick in the draft, which would be hurt should they trade for a star. But trading for someone of Poeltl's caliber wouldn't move the needle too much.

OKC can and likely will continue to pass on trading for a players like Poeltl to further commit to earning a high lottery pick.

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