OKC Thunder Trade Deadline Big Board: 7 Trade Targets Ranked by Fit, Cost and Urgency

The Oklahoma City Thunder are sitting atop the NBA as the Trade Deadline looms. Many expect them to make a move and Sam Presti's track record suggests he will. Ousmane Dieng, a pending restricted free agent, is the most likely to be dealt. Attached to him will be NBA Draft picks to net something valuable back in return for the Bricktown Ballers.

There are some NBA trade targets that stand above the rest no matter if it is due to play on the court, the cost of the trade or their current contract and how important of a need that they immediately fill for a team.

As the Feb. 5 NBA Trade Deadline draws near, it is time to put together a big board of trade candidates for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Ranking The 7 NBA Trade Deadline Targets for OKC Thunder

1) Kevin Love, Utah Jazz

The Oklahoma City Thunder need an insurance big man, but only for the rest of the regular season. No matter who they grab between now and Feb. 5 to fit that mold, it would be devastating to this team's chances of winning a championship to truly lean on any trade candidate to pick up heavy postseason minutes.

However, with Isaiah Hartenstein missing two separate extended stretches with a calf issue, Oklahoma City should prioritize adding to their front court to help manage the load the rest of the regular season to give the Thunder the best chance to reach the finish line of this 82-game marathon healthy.

While Love, a 17-year veteran, does not move the needle, he certainly can space the floor with his distance shooting and mix it up on the glass to make him a more than viable backup big man for games that Hartenstein misses down the stretch, on top of helping correct the team's shooting woes and rebounding struggles at times.

The former NBA Champion is currently wasting away on the lowly Utah Jazz and posting 6.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and over half a stock per game while shooting 35% from beyond the arc on four attempts a night.

He should be available for the Thunder's ideal package: Shipping off soon-to-be restricted free agent Ousmane Dieng and a few second-round picks. This move actually saves Oklahoma City money by addressing a need. Love would fit into the Thunder's bi-annual exception should they choose to absorb the big man into that slot, and even a straight-up swap of contracts still nets OKC $2.5 Million.

Most importantly for many of these trade targets: Love is an expiring contract. The Thunder desperately need roster spots this offseason with their influx of draft assets in the loaded 2026 NBA Draft. This still secures them an open spot moving forward.

2) Day'Ron Sharpe, Brooklyn Nets

Sharpe is much younger, 24, and has a team option following this season, which Oklahoma City could just decline to turn the big man into an expiring deal and a half a season rental. Again, Sam Presti could come out on top financially this time by electing to use the non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception to absorb the North Carolina product while only sending out Dieng.

At 6-foot-10 and 265 pounds, Sharpe adds size to Oklahoma City, averaging over seven points and six rebounds a night off the bench for Brooklyn this year in 43 contests. While a non-factor from 3-point land, he is a much better defender than Love and has flashed the connective play-making chops that the Thunder look for.

3) Nick Richards, Phoenix Suns

Richards was the talk of the town last season when he really caught on with the Charlotte Hornets before being dealt to Phoenix. Since then, he has fallen out of the Suns' rotation. With the successful Suns season bringing on an all-time level of good vibes to the valley, making a trade might not appeal to their senses, but this target makes sense for Oklahoma City, which can sweeten the pot for Phoenix to move on from a non-rotational player.

Second-round picks are the currency of every NBA Trade Deadline. Presti has more than anyone, giving Dieng and multiple seconds is too good a deal to pass up on if this scribe were sitting in the Suns front office.

While Richards doesn't have a clear path to minutes in Phoenix the Thunder can take a player who averaged over nine points and eight rebounds a year ago to elongate their front court depth and he is just on the playoff trust threshold that if he grew into this Oklahoma City system perhaps he can pitch in during a postseason game or series to help tip the scales. If nothing else, he would help the Thunder get rest for Hartenstein and even a banged-up Jaylin Williams during the second half of this regular season.

4) Bobby Portis, Milwaukee Bucks

Portis would start a new tier of this list: A nice target, but the logistics make it iffy. As mentioned previously, the open roster spot at the end of the season is a must. Portis has two years left on his deal, making it necessary to reroute him this offseason. With everyone understanding the position Oklahoma City would be in this summer, barring a crazy postseason output, it would make it likely the Thunder would have to attach assets to get Portis and to ship him away.

However, for the short term, as things fall to pieces in Milwaukee, collecting two of three second-round picks along with a flyer on Dieng for a team that should now be full-blown tanking, isn't the worst outcome for getting off Portis' money. The Thunder would absorb Portis into their Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception to get this deal done while only losing Dieng.

Despite the messy logistics laid out to start this Portis conversation, he has the best case for playoff minutes of any of the top four targets.

5) Keon Ellis, Sacramento Kings

This is where things shift, and admittedly get a little wacky. There simply isn't anything the Oklahoma City Thunder have to do to improve at the deadline to help bolster their title case. The only box left to check is seeing this team get healthy, which only time will tell if that happens and no move can erase the potential bad outcomes on the injury front.

Ellis is a player Sacramento feels desperate to move on from, for whatever reason, and he fits the Oklahoma City Thunder's identity. For my money, an elite defender who is a career 41% 3 point shooter and should see his current clip of 36% from downtown climb in Bricktown with the shot quality the Thunder's top scorers will generate for him.

Dieng for Ellis works with the ability for the Thunder to put the defensive ace into the bi-annual exception and the Kings using the NTPMLE for Dieng. Though if the Kings did not want to use their exception on Dieng, Sacramento would need to shed an additional $1.8 million to make this trade legal, which, depending on their other deadline plans, will likely not be very difficult.

Sure, there is positional and archetype overlap with Ellis, but his high upside as a shooter makes this move appealing. In a contract year, he is shooting 83% at the rim, 38% on corner triples and 37% on non-corner 3s. This is a year removed from Ellis shooting at a 49% clip from the corner and 41% clip above the break a year ago.

6) Jock Landel, Memphis Grizzlies

Much like the last trade, there are some hoops to jump through to make this work. Memphis would need to be rid of an additional $1.8 million to make this trade legal of Dieng being the return for Jock Landel. The Thunder can take the veteran big man into their disabled player exception to be free of over $6 million after this trade is finalized. Given the Grizzlies presumed deadline plans of trading Ja Morant and others, it seems as though when the dust settles on Feb. 5 this will be a legal trade. If not, Oklahoma City can also get a third team involved to take on the limited additional salaries for a low-grade asset.

Landel is the most uninspiring move to help the Thunder's front court while also having some of the most hoops to jump through to get the swap finalized which pushes him down this list. But at the end of the day, Oklahoma City needs to check one box with any trade such as this one: Is the incoming player a better insurance big man option than converting Branden Carlson to a standard deal? In this case, the answer is yes.

7) Trey Murphy III, New Orleans Pelicans

The reason Trey Murphy III falls to the seventh-ranked player on this list is due to our strict criteria. Sure, he fits the Thunder's style of play; he is a much better player than anyone else on this list, but he costs the most on the current roster, and there should be no urgency in Oklahoma City to get this deal done.

Much like Cam Johnson last deadline, while both are the perfect target on paper for Oklahoma City to go after on Feb. 5, there are logistical issues to get a deal done, while a strong possibility that Murphy III stays in New Orleans past next week's deadline, in which case the Thunder can revisit this potential trade in the summer.

This move would cost Oklahoma City multiple first-round picks on top of true-blue rotational players to make the money work. While this armchair general manager likes the potential addition, it seems a bit too far-fetched to happen in practice.

The Thunder understand that this roster will undergo a shake-up this summer, no matter if they pull off back-to-back titles or fall short of that goal, so why make such a dramatic change now and put yourself behind the eight ball? Especially with indications out of New Orleans that this very target will still be available come July.

At which point the team would have a full summer, training camp and 82 game season to integrate a new style of play as opposed to a few months before the highest stakes games imaginable.