What Would Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Trade Value Actually Be?

For the second offseason in a row, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been thrown in the trade talk mix.

This has been a very fluid and active offseason in the landscape of the NBA, and Oklahoma City is in unique spot. The Thunder, who seem to be in the middle of a long rebuild, have Gilgeous-Alexander locked up for the foreseeable future on a massive contract.

The Thunder star recently signed a 5 year, $179,299,750 extension to call Oklahoma City home for a good portion of his career. Oklahoma City has since endured two painful losing seasons, but the benefits are starting to come to fruition. The Thunder have plenty of young talent with lots of draft capital still in store. Even with the vision becoming more and more clear, Gilgeous-Alexander’s name is still being thrown around in trade talks.

“The Knicks will be on the lookout for the next disgruntled player who goes on the trading block with Oklahoma City point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander previously mentioned.”

- @NYPost_Berman pic.twitter.com/uqgYiBkkzN
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) September 2, 2022

At this point, Oklahoma City has invested too much into this rebuild to turn back. A year ago, the Thunder had some wiggle room to switch up the core, but now, it’s becoming more real. It would be a very interesting move to trade Gilgeous-Alexander now, and one that is likely so out of the question that it’s not worth talking about. But what would the magic offer be for Sam Presti to pick up the phone?

The value of the 24-year old has been highly debated recently, and with some of the trade packages that young stars have been going for, it’s certainly an interesting question. Even if Oklahoma City never opts to trade Gilgeous-Alexander, knowing his value could be useful.

Both the Dejounte Murray and Rudy Gobert trades were relatively draft pick heavy, while the Donovan Mitchell trade included a potential star and plenty of picks. With the trajectory of Gilgeous-Alexander’s career and his ability to score efficiently on a bad team, his trade value has to be pretty sky high too. The average NBA fan won’t recognize just how good SGA truly is until Oklahoma City starts winning games.

If the Thunder were to trade Gilgeous-Alexander, I would imagine Presti would demand a deal similar to Mitchell’s. Receiving an intriguing prospect to add to the core plus a large amount of draft picks would likely be the only thing to raise an eyebrow. For now, though, it seems like hanging onto Gilgeous-Alexander is in the Thunder’s best interest.

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