3 trades Thunder can still make with asset trove to take over Western Conference

The Oklahoma City Thunder finished last season as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference despite boasting one of the league's youngest rosters. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander emerged as a bonafide MVP candidate, while the likes of Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams quickly ascended the stairway to stardom.

This OKC team is arguably the deepest and most talented in the NBA. Boston has more firepower in its starting five, but the Thunder bench is ripe with high-level contributors and compelling upside swings. Nikola Topic, for example, was a top-3 prospect in the 2024 NBA Draft here at FanSided. He probably won't see the floor this season because of injury. OKC just has major talent waiting in the wings, not unlike Holmgren the season before last.

Between the Alex Caruso trade and new contracts for Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins, the OKC second unit is built for long-term success. Ajay Mitchell and Dillon Jones are two rookies who perfectly fit OKC's unique offensive style. With Isaiah Hartenstein in the mix, the Thunder should never spend a second without elite rim protection on the floor. It's hard not to get giddy when thinking about OKC's ceiling in 2024-25. Young or not, this team is among the strongest title bets in recent memory.

I'd wager, right now, that OKC-Boston is our NBA Finals matchup in 2025. There are still months and months left for injuries and other factors to change that calculus, but the Thunder will start the season in pole position out West. Sam Presti still has the best asset trove in the NBA, too, so OKC can double down on its impressive stature with a trade or two.

Here are a few ideas.

3. Thunder add size and defense with Nets, Dorian Finney-Smith trade

The is essentially the equivalent of a first-round pick and change for the Brooklyn Nets. There's a decent chance Dorian Finney-Smith fetches a better package elsewhere — OKC might need to throw some draft capital into the mix — but Brooklyn no longer has need of Finney-Smith's veteran presence. Ousmane Dieng, 21, is a former lottery pick waiting for a legitimate NBA opportunity. Dillon Jones, 22 years old and the No. 26 pick in June's NBA Draft, makes for a compelling point guard bet. The Nets need more self-creation juice.

OKC, naturally, absorbs Finney-Smith and the roughly two years, $30 million left on his contract. Finney-Smith is due $15.3 million in 2025-26 as a player option. There's a world in which he opts out and cuts his OKC tenure short, but with how the new collective bargaining agreement has impacted mid-level contracts, there's a good chance Finney-Smith opts in and guarantees OKC two years of club control.

Finney-Smith is essentially gravy for a deep, dynamic OKC lineup. At 6-foot-7 and 220 pounds, Finney-Smith supplies remarkable versatility on the defensive end. He's comfortable handling difficult assignments on the wing, he can slide his feet with guards, or he can muscle up bulkier threats in the post. With Lu Dort, Alex Caruso, and Jalen Williams all commanding significant minutes, OKC won't lack for quality defensive stoppers. Finney-Smith can add a bit more size in the power forward slot, which OKC needs behind Holmgren.

Last season was not the most prolific offensive campaign for Finney-Smith — 8.5 points on .421/.348/.717 splits — but he supplies enough spot-up shooting to stick in OKC's five-out lineups. Finney-Smith is not quite as dynamic as other members of the rotation, but slotting him as the eighth or ninth man on a loaded team is borderline unfair.

2. Thunder complete sign-and-trade for Cavs stopper Isaac Okoro

The Isaac Okoro free agent saga quietly drags on for the Cleveland Cavaliers without a resolution in sight. There's a decent chance Okoro just ends up signing his qualifying offer and testing the waters again as an unrestricted free agent in 2025. Should the Cavs decide to move on, though, OKC has the means to acquire Okoro via sign-and-trade.

In this particularly hypothetical, Okoro inks a four-year, $60 million contract. That seems like a fair number — more than what Cleveland is offering, but not enough to irrevocably spoil by the time his contract expires. Last season was the best yet from Okoro. The former No. 5 pick supplied his standard excellent defense on the wing, but he also hit a career-best 39.1 percent of his 3s (and 57.0 percent of his 2s).

There are still red flags regarding Okoro's offensive profile, such as his 67.9 percent free throw clip. Okoro was always a shooting liability before last season. Was 2023-24 an aberation, or has Okoro meaningfully improved his jumper? His volume was still fairly low (3.1 attempts per game, compared to 2.3 the season prior), so we didn't see a huge spike in attempts. Just a spike in makes.

Okoro merits the investment, though. He essentially upgrades the Lu Dort minutes, supplying similarly spectacular on-ball defense. Okoro has the speed and strength to do damage as a slasher, especially if defenses are forced to close out on his 3-point attempts. OKC has no shortage of shot creation, so Okoro would be able to comfortably settle into a streamlined role, not dissimilar to his setup in Cleveland next to Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell.

OKC will have better frontcourt spacing than the Cavs, though, and possibly an even better defensive ecosystem. Okoro would need to split minutes with Dort, Caruso, and OKC's gaggle of quality wings, but the Thunder aren't short on assets. This is a fairly low-risk investment and Okoro, barring a serious decline in performance, should be tradeable in the future.

1. Thunder can await the demise of Bogdan Bogdanovic and the Hawks

I am partial to the concept of Trae Young in OKC, but that seems a little too risky given the current state of the Thunder. OKC has built its identity around versatility and defense as much as anything. Young would be a seamless stylistic fit in the Thunder offense, but he's an immediate weak point in OKC's otherwise impenetrable armor on the defensive end. That, plus the potential lack of touches between Young, SGA, and OKC's other young talent, puts that particular idea on the shelf. For now.

Instead, OKC can eagerly await the Atlanta Hawks' inevitable demise and pounce on the opportunity to land Bogdan Bogdanovic. Fresh off an impressive Olympics run with the Serbian national team, Bogdanovic will start next season No. 1 on a lot of trade boards around the league. He should've been more involved in the Sixth Man of the Year debates last spring, but his awards campaign was smothered by the Hawks' broader incompetence.

Bogdanovic would quickly elevate his reputation in league circles on a real team. OKC has the potential to field the best defense in the NBA next season. The Hawks couldn't stop a tumbleweed in 2023-24. Bogdanovic is not himself a great defender, but he's more competitive on that end than half the Hawks' current roster. Moreover, Bogdanovic would infuse the OKC second unit with the one thing is really lacks — dynamic halfcourt offense.

Cason Wallace is due for a second-year leap and Nikola Topic is coming down the pipeline with his relentless rim pressure, but Bogdanovic adds a level of shooting dynamism and secondary creation that OKC's bench mob presently lacks. The Thunder are deep enough to stagger SGA and J-Dub, so the are other avenues around their limited bench scoring, but Bogdanovic would have a pronounced impact in 25-plus minutes every night.

The Thunder need to figure out how they're going to divvy up minutes between so many quality players, but Bogdanovic's 3-point shooting, slashing, and occasional pick-and-roll flourishes would undoubtedly command serious usage from Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault.