Thunder Season Review: Trade Deadline Blitz
The 2021 NBA trade deadline occurred on March 25. However, the Oklahoma City Thunder got an early start on making moves. Just two weeks before the deadline, they made their first transaction of several, sending Hamidou Diallo to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Svi Mykhailiuk and a 2027 2nd round draft pick.
From there, they would make a second move just four days later, sending Trevor Ariza to the Miami Heat for Myers Leonard and yet another 2027 2nd round draft pick. Ariza wasn't with the team to that point in the season and Leonard would go on to be waived, meaning this was a simple swap to add future draft capital.
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Where could Thunder's picks fall?
Finally, a deal on deadline day happened that would become one of the more impactful moves on the league as a whole. Oklahoma City traded highly sought after veteran guard George Hill to the Philadelphia 76ers. In exchange for getting a guy who would significantly raise their playoff ceiling, the Sixers would include the New York Knicks to make it a three-team deal to net the Thunder Tony Bradley, Austin Rivers (who would later be bought out) and two future second-round picks.
At that point, Thunder GM Sam Presti had added an additional four second-round picks to his arsenal of draft stock over a span of roughly two weeks.
When it was all said and done, these were moves that gave some visibility into how the rest of the season would look in Oklahoma City. Moving Hill meant they were prepared to miss the postseason and focus on developing and evaluating young talent.
Both Mykhailiuk and Bradley are 23 years old and entering restricted free agency this summer. For the Thunder, this was an opportunity to give them a shot at proving their worth and potentially earn a new contract with OKC during the offseason.
