Opinion: Proposed Idea of Thunder Targeting Suns' Deandre Ayton is Bad Idea
On Wednesday, one Bleacher Report writer released an article detailing what he thinks every team’s “dream” trade target might be this offseason, even though his selections seemed based more on practicality than fantasy.
For the Oklahoma City Thunder, the target listed was Phoenix Suns’ center DeAndre Ayton.
The reasoning? Trading for the big man “could stabilize OKC's center spot and quite possibly increase his output in an offense that needs more scoring threats to lighten Gilgeous-Alexander's load.”
Phoenix is in win-now mode, sporting a core consisting of an aging — and ringless — Chris Paul, an aging Kevin Durant, and a soon-to-be 27 year old Devin Booker. In the event that the Suns were to try and flip Ayton to “better balance the roster” as the article suggests, it would likely be centered around players who can help them right away.
While there is no suggestion of who would be involved in such a deal, it’s generally probably a bad idea for the Thunder to spend the assets that it might require to land Ayton this offseason. The Bahamian big is making north of $100M over the next three seasons and carries a cap hit of about $32.5M next season.
Oklahoma City’s General Manager, Sam Presti, would likely avoid such a deal as he’s consistently preached about how he wants to build a sustainable future for the Thunder via draft and development. Such a deal would signify the Thunder taking a shortcut to success, something Presti has said he’d like to avoid.
Centers are certainly still important in the NBA, but the paradigm seems to be shifting around how franchises think about the position. And with Chet Holmgren — a highly touted center prospect and the No. 2 overall pick in last year’s draft — yet to play a single minute in the regular season, it might be best to gauge his impact prior to making any sort of big roster shakeup prior to the start of the 2023-24 season.
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