NBA Mock Trade Fantasy Impact: Giannis Antetokounmpo Dealt To Oklahoma City Thunder
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Things change fast in the NBA, and this year’s Western Conference Finals were a prime example of that. The Oklahoma City Thunder, who were once seen as the clear best team in the West in the 2024-2025 season, are now sitting at home after losing to the San Antonio Spurs.
The Thunder can chalk up some of their shortcomings in a seven-game series against the Spurs to a couple of key injuries, Ajay Mitchell and Jalen Williams. However, while they can certainly still be competitive with their current roster and be a title contender, to get back to solidifying themselves as the best team in the West, a notable move will need to be made.
Oklahoma City has a plethora of draft capital and players to seemingly facilitate a trade that would take the NBA world by storm. The immediate potential move people think to that would certainly make a huge splash and change the fantasy basketball landscape is them acquiring two-time MVP from the Milwaukee Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo. Even with all the Thunder's assets, Oklahoma City actually acquiring Antetokounmpo is more difficult than it may seem.
What Would The Thunder Have To Give Up For Giannis?
The Thunder have a lot of money knotted up in their “Big-3”–Chet Homgren, Jalen Williams, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. They are all on max contracts. With that, for a deal to facilitate with Milwaukee Holmgren or Williams, or both players, would likely have to be a part of the deal, to match salaries. OKC can not be over the first apron, so they would have to match the contract of Antetkounmpo, who is set to make $58,456,566 in the 2026-2027 season.
Notable Fantasy Impact Of Potential Deal For Bucks
Holmgren and Williams would be big fantasy winners if they were sent to Milwaukee. Holmgren this past season averaged 17.1 PPG, 8.9 RPG, and 1.7 APG. Williams averaged 17.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 5.5 APG.
If they were to both get sent over to the Bucks in a deal, each of their averages should tick up moderately. That comes directly from them not being next to a high-usage player in Gilgeous-Alexander. The higher fantasy potential of the two, if just one of them were to get sent over in a deal to Milwaukee, is Williams.
Statistically, Williams is coming off his worst season since his rookie year in the 2022-2023 season. Williams, though, was never really 100%, as he was constantly dealing with injuries. He logged a career low of 33 games played. With a whole offseason to recover and then becoming the go-to guy in Milwaukee, Williams has the potential to be a top-10 fantasy basketball talent.
Just last season, he was already an elite fantasy talent. He averaged 21.6 PPG, 5.3 RPG, and 5.1 APG.
Notable Fantasy Impact of Potential Deal For Thunder
If Antetokounmpo were sent to the Thunder, his offensive usage would have a notable fantasy impact on Thunder players, including Gilgeous-Alexander.
Antetkounmpo, in 36 games in the 2025-2026 season, averaged 27.6 PPG, 5.4 APG, and 9.8 RPG. Gilgeous Alexander averaged 31.1 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 6.6 APG.
With the addition of Antetokounmp, Gilgeous-Alexander would see an immediate drop in his PPG average. For example, Damian Lillard, in his first season with Milwaukee, averaged 24.3 PPG. The season prior in Portland, he averaged 32.2 PPG.
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Gray Deyo is a Nashville-based sportswriter who graduated with a sports management bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He has covered prep sports, college sports, the WNBA, and the NBA for the past four years. In addition to writing for SI, Gray also currently contributes to Prep Girls Hoops