REPORT: OKC Thunder Have 'Great Interest' In Chicago Bulls Forward

The 2024 NBA Offseason is just weeks away, with the NBA Finals tipping off in mere days all but two franchises have turned their focus on their summertime plans. For the Oklahoma City, who rattled off 57 wins this season, they are burning the midnight oil searching for ways to improve their roster.

Not only can you count on the OKC Thunder being contenders if healthy next year, but they own a pile of draft picks, a ton of cap space and four open roster spots to couple with their fresh success which makes for a spicy summer filled with more rumors than a novel that middle-aged mom is reading on the bench in Pensacola.

There will be no shortage of speculations and the rumor mill is churning early as the week gap between the Conference Finals and NBA Finals leaves us searching for crumbs of NBA content. Today, the Athletic's Darnell Mayberry released a slue of news out of Chicago.

One of the items Mayberry reported was about the Oklahoma City Thunder who have 'great interest' in Chicago Bulls forward Patrick Williams according to the Athletic scribe who used to serve on the Thunder beat and was in town covering the playoffs in person.

“If the Bulls have seen enough of the Williams experiment, one team that has great interest, a league source said, is Oklahoma City. The Thunder need more size, and they have an army of draft picks that can sweeten the pot for the Bulls if a sign-and-trade emerges in July,” Mayberry reported on Tuesday.

Mayberry describes the Thunder's ability to woo Williams into inking an offer sheet to kick off his restricted free agency with the assets to parlay it into a sign-and-trade with Chicago to secure the services of the bigger four-man.

However, a sign-and-trade would instantly hard-cap the Oklahoma City Thunder who have top-five in the league cap space. A smarter route, should the Thunder truly have 'great interest' in the Florida State product, would be to throw a massive amount of money at Williams living with the possibility of the Bulls matching and rolling the dice at the chance they don't and it only costing the Thunder money rather than triggering a sign-and-trade.

Williams stands six-foot-seven coming in at 215 pounds with a seven-foot wingspan making him an instant fit into the Thunder's power forward spot giving Oklahoma City more functional size to overwhelm teams. A lengthy lineup of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander-Lu Dort-Jalen Williams-Patrick Williams-Chet Holmgren would devastate teams.

The 22-year-old averaged 10 points, four rebounds and an assist this season while posting 1.7 stocks per contest as he shot 44 percent from the floor, 40 percent from beyond the arc and 78 percent at the line.

Williams shot 37 percent on catch-and-shoot looks, turned in 45 percent shooting on dribble jumpers and finished at the rim at just a 51 percent clip which is concerning given his frame.

After making an All-Rookie squad four years ago, Williams has seen a mixed bag of results including two seasons of playing less than 50 games. While it is easy to envision an uptick in production in Bricktown hypothetically as the talent rises around him and puts him in a better position to succeed it is a gamble to have that actually come to be.

Williams represents a more physical body for Oklahoma City that could thrive in their cutting and catch-and-shoot system as a complimentary off-ball player but would need to redefine who he is at the rim and on the glass to be the magic elixir for the Thunder.

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