Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will be eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason, presenting the Thunder with their first major decision on the point guard since acquiring him in the Paul George trade in 2019. Oklahoma City seems likely to enter into extension discussions with Gilgeous-Alexander if he’s still on the roster later this offseason, but that’s not necessarily a given, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.
“It’s going to take a f–king lot to get him (in a trade), but he’s no longer impossible to get,” one team executive told Fischer.
As Fischer notes, if the Thunder are open to discussing Gilgeous-Alexander in trade scenarios, that represents a change from the team’s philosophy during the 2020 offseason. At that point, all four teams with top-four picks contacted OKC about SGA and were “quickly rebuffed,” sources tell Bleacher Report.
This offseason, on the other hand, it sounds like the Thunder are even willing to bring up Gilgeous-Alexander in trade discussions themselves. According to both Fischer and Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report, Oklahoma City offered Gilgeous-Alexander and the No. 6 pick in this year’s draft to the Pistons in exchange for the No. 1 overall pick. That was apparently the “legitimate” offer Wasserman alluded to on Monday, which Detroit turned down.
Here’s more on the Thunder:
- There’s a “strong expectation” the the Thunder will continue to search for ways to move up in the first round, according to Fischer, who says that one possible deal to monitor is a swap that would send the 16th and 18th overall picks to the Hornets for No. 11.
- There’s a “sense among team officials” that the Thunder and Raptors have also discussed a possible trade involving the No. 4 and No. 6 overall picks, Fischer writes.
- If the Thunder keep their No. 18 overall pick, Baylor’s Jared Butler could be a target there, according to Wasserman, who suggests that the team may like the idea of adding a “veteran” prospect to its young core.
- The Thunder’s arena has a new name: Paycom Center. The club issued a press release today announcing a 15-year arena naming rights agreement with Paycom, one of Oklahoma’s largest companies.
Man, I don’t understand the thinking of OKC there. I don’t think Cade is a franchise changing guy at all. SGA I think has at least one level above Cade. Giving up SGA and a pick? I don’t get that.
I sort of understand the thinking of OKC, they realize they are starting from scratch and any player they have now will probably be elsewhere whenever they conclude. Not to mention he is an OSU guy, so marketing for him in Oklahoma would be next level.
I don’t understand Detroit turning down that deal. Detroit is not one guy away from being a contender, no matter how good they think he will be. They need all the assets they can get. I think they are further ahead in the rebuild process than OKC, plus they are in the East where it would be easier to break into the playoffs. SGA would have them at least competing with the likes of Charlotte.
Just mind boggling.
Detroit probably feels the same, they probably think SGA will be elsewhere when they conclude.
My feelings are the Eastern playoffs will be easier for a rebuilding team to get into than a Western team. An SGA-led team is not getting into the Western playoffs, but could get into the East. Washington is likely to sell off. Toronto is likely to begin a rebuild. Indiana very well could be heading that way. Cleveland, Orlando, and Chicago don’t look like much. Charlotte is on the way up, but you put SGA and someone like Kuminga on Detroit and I would take that team over Charlotte. You could get started in the playoffs next year and still have plenty of upside.
The other option is that Cade will be leading a likely losing team in Detroit for 2-3 years. Best case scenario is that he turns Detroit into a winner, but it’ll take longer and the upside is not really better. Worst case scenario is that he does not acclimate to the NBA, something you won’t have to worry about with SGA.
Hey I’m a big fan if SGA, but he is a 2nd tier star, the hope for Detroit is that Cade is a 1st tier star, they keep their pick hoping for that upside your assuming isn’t there (nobody knows, it takes atleast a couple years post draft).
I mean I get that part, but with all the picks they have, plus SGA, I think that buys you a guy who is a better long term prospect than Cade.
I hope Pistons are not striving to be like Charlotte… overpaying Gordon Hayward was a good move? Look at most of their lottery picks of the last 10 years, they have had quite a few… they may be able to make the playoffs in the East for a bit and hover around the 6-8 seed but that isn’t too difficult, Indiana has done that for a couple decades.
They are not what I see Detroit wanting to become.
It’s called working your way up. When you are a smaller market team, you don’t get to go from worst to first by collecting draft picks for years and then trading them for big names like Brooklyn or LA. Smaller market teams have to be bad and then slowly work their way up the ladder like Atlanta or Phoenix or Milwaukee or Denver did. Making the play in tourney next season in the East would be a great step forward for the franchise, no matter how easy you think it would be. By the way, if it is so easy to do, then why haven’t the Pistons been doing it?
Why haven’t Pistons been doing what? They just started rebuilding last year when Weaver became GM. He added two drafted players that were all rookie team and Olympic select team members and a FA (Jerami Grant) who was in top 3 voting on most improved player this year.
The years before that, they were doing those dumb moves you are talking about that Charlotte is doing. Getting stuck in bad contracts like Hayward. Stuck in the not good enough to win it all but good enough to reach playoffs every third year.
Well, the Blake Griffin deal obviously blew up in their face. I didn’t really have a problem with them making the trade at the time though. And the Pistons did get value from him, he made All NBA Third Team with them. They just didn’t get enough value to make the deal work. He was not a bad contract when he arrived, injuries turned him into a bad deal.
Plus, Hayward was hurt some but he played very well in Charlotte. Charlotte just got into the playoffs for the first time in years and appear to be a team on the rise and yet you have already pigeon holed them simply they didn’t win it all in LaMelo’s rookie year.
Griffin was a terrible trade, you are right about the injuries, but that contract always looked like it would in time become horrible. We were fortunate to buy him out, but that is the kind of moves Charlotte is doing and what I hope the Pistons avoid.
I think someone already said it best SGA looks like a #2 player on a championship team while the hope is Cade is able to be the guy, a #1 player on a championship team.
If you look at his team at OSU, not a single one of them will be on a NBA roster, it was just plain not very talented. He made a bottom third big 12 team into a 4 or 5 seed (forgot which) in NCAA tourney.
Buddy Hield turned the 2015-16 Oklahoma Sooners, with not a single NBA player on the roster, into a #2 seed in the NCAA tourney and made the Final Four. That is meaningless when it comes to how a player will turn out in the NBA.
SGA could be a #2 guy, or he could be the next James Harden after a trade. His stats at OKC are very similar to James Harden’s first three years in the league. I am not saying SGA is going to turn into an MVP, because I don’t know. But no one else knows that he is going to peak as a #2 guy either. Same as no one else knows that Cade is going to be a star.
It’s all just a guessing game. It is educated guessing, but educated guessing is still just guessing.
If u don’t think Cade is a franchise changer then u clearly haven’t watched him enough
Ok, I’m not the only one with that opinion either but that’s fine. I don’t think any of these guys are franchise changing guys. None of them are an AD, Zion type guy.
Cade isn’t a AD or Zion type guy? Lol those guys won a grand total of 1 playoff series in dam near a decade of Pelicans basketball. Let’s see how long it takes Cade to win a series. Seem like you’re going off of other’s opinions. He’s played more than enough games for u to form your own opinion on him
I live in OKC. I don’t get the hype around Cade. I saw his games.
I don’t either. He is a nice player. He should have a long career as a starter. I don’t get the articles ALREADY anointing him the 3rd best #1 pick of the last decade when a. He hasn’t been drafted #1 yet, and b. He hasn’t played a damn game in the league.
Tbh I don’t think he’s even going to be the best player in this draft.
Maybe basketball just not your thing lol. If you’ve seen him play it should be extremely obv why there’s alot of hype around him.
Ok, first of all piss off
Secondly, are you Cade Cunningham?
You think only Cade would be able to appreciate how great he is at basketball. There’s a lot of his games from when he was dominant for Team USA, Montverde & OK State online. Watch any of them, understand what you’re seeing THEN form an opinion on his game. You make yourself look dumb when u try to skip steps
I’ve watched plenty of his film. I see a really nice player that should be a starter for a long time in the league. I don’t see a franchise changer. I’m sorry this seems to offend you so much that you have to regress to insults. It’s called an opinion. What’s your venmo so I can send you 10 dollars to buy a dictionary
Also “he has played more than enough games for you to form your own opinion on him”
I did. I shared it. You attacked me. So I can form my own opinion unless it differs from yours?
$10 to buy a dictionary? Lol did I misspell something?.. only thing that offends me is u calling yourself a basketball fan bc that makes me as a real basketball fan look bad. There’s a reason he’s the presumptive #1 in a very strong class. He’s obviously a franchise type talent
I will take Green or Kuminga over Cade any day of the week & twice on Sunday!
Seeing a multitude of games does help an analysis, but some things can be discerned quickly. Sankara you don’t make points that would show the opinion is yours. Your opinions seem conventional in comparison, just inflated for whoever crosses your mind last. Who would you call overrated?
When I saw CadeC first, midseason, I saw an ill guy playing anyway, looking terrible, and I wonder if some observers are going too much by that. He looked better later. He can probe a defense, and wind up with more points than you thought. An unusually completed player, as opposed to a show-offy athlete. Not that I would pass on Jalen Green!
I know this is an old post but yo Sankara, while I agree with a lot of what you say, maybe chill with the aggression there? If you want a comment section where arguments about theoretical basketball trades escalate really quickly into personal beef, check out ESPN. (Or most other sites, really.)
They are not trading SGA. This is stupid. They have 90 picks they can trade…
(90 picks they’re going to need to trade…)
Exactly why they dont need more.
Except, the better players that get sent to OKC by other teams, means the value of their draft picks go down. They have a lot of first round picks, but most of them are likely to be mid to late rounders for the foreseeable future. OKC’s only truly valuable picks are their own and if they get good players, then that value is lowered as well. That is exactly why they would want to trade SGA. It gets value from him and raises the value of the picks.
Cade will be making 4/$38 over his first four years. This will give DET a ton of financial flexibility next offseason.
SGA will be making at least $17M more per year and we all know this draft is 4 deep so the 6th pick is a huge downgrade.
This isn’t a terrible offer, but there needs to be more.
This draft is MUCH deeper than 4 guys smh… Cade will make less $ than SGA over the next 4yrs but SGA will most likely be better next season & may well be a better player all 4seasons & for the rest of their careers.. financial flexibility is important why, bc it gives u opportunities to add talented players right? Det would be getting an extremely talented guy rn in this deal with the #6 pick. Elite free agents almost never sign in Detroit. Ben Wallace was very good when Dumars signed him from DC but not quite elite yet. He’s the last free agent I remember them getting & that was 20+ yrs ago. Having max cap flexibility is more important for some teams than others
I understand you’re point, and I’m not saying you’re wrong, I just disagree with it.
I guess if you wanted to include Barnes, you could say the draft is 5 deep, but I think the consensus is 4 deep.
Ben Wallace was included in the Grant Hill S&T from ORL.
There’s clearly more than 4,5 really good players in this draft. And lol whether Ben came from DC or Orlando the fact remains that elite free agents rarely if ever sign in Detroit
That’s true!!!
He is clearly saying 4-5 players with real potential to be franchise players, obviously there will be other talent, and somebody might end up being much better than expected over the next couple of years, bit as it sits yeah there are 4-5 that look to have star potential.
Ben Wallace was traded to Detroit in Grant Hill trade along with Chucky Atkins… he was from Orlando. Exactly why you don’t give up the number 1 pick in the draft though…
Exactly SGA was like the 4-5 best player from a deep draft class, Cade is the consensus best players from a 4-5 heavy draft class, I take Cade and hope he is what the experts believe because SGA is a nice piece and Detroit needs a franchise players.
Cade would be a GREAT addition to the Pistons. But if they’re getting offers like SGA plus #6 for him I’m guessing that pick gets traded at the draft. It’s obv smart for Weaver to wait until the last moment to get team’s best offers & if the offers are like that & better it’s gonna be extremely tough to turn down that type of return. Detroit could even trade back from #6 to the teens & grab extra future 1sts while drafting another big (Sengun).. or they could stay at 6 & take a wing scorer like Moody or Kuminga. I think they’re waiting for Houston’s best offer to trade up from #2 tho. If they can get a haul + Green for Cade that might be the best possible scenario for them. Anybody who ever seen Jalen Green play should know what I mean when I say he has legend potential
I agree. I believe that Green + “a haul” is more valuable to the Pistons than SGA + #6….
If you’re Detroit would u rather get Jalen Green, #23 overall, Detroit’s own 2022 1st back (from the Wood trade) & Milwaukee’s 2023 1st or SGA, Isaiah Roby & (Moses Moody, Jonathan Kuminga or James Bouknight) for Cade?…
I might be on an island, but I’d rather take the HOU deal.
I can understand that. I think you might be sleeping on Roby, Moody & Kuminga tho
I really like Moody, but I’m out on Kuminga. He could be really good, but he could also be Stanley Johnson.
He’s much better than Stanley Johnson. Stanley dominated in HS but was much less dominant at Arizona. Kuminga on the other hand was very good this past season playing vs pros. Kuminga completely dominated Poku when they went against each other a few months ago. He’s a born scorer, tbh Orlando would be making a mistake by passing on him imo he’s clearly the 5th best guy in the class
You’re probably right that Kuminga is more of a scorer, but as a shooter, if Kuminga can’t do better than SJ did (although Stanley did do better this past season on limited #s) as a shooter, he’s not going to be anything special. If he can learn to shoot, he’ll be a max All-NBA type….
SGA has got to get paid next year, is he still as good of a value on a max contract? I think not. It should take SGA the 6 and two future first atleast. I’m not a Detroit fan, but I try and look at the facts.
SGA is always being underrated, even by observers who say they like him.
Paycom Center??????? Can’t we do any better!
I would’ve rather been Raisin’ canes center. At least they taste good
As an OKC fan and avid SGA supporter, I’m personally disappointed to hear that OKC offered SGA in a trade smh
I don’t think it’s because they don’t like him as a player. It’s the coming payday that’s unattractive. He probably won’t be traded but you look at everything…, especially if you can bring a top-end young guy on a rookie scale contract and kick the can down the road.
We have been hearing rumors for over a year that OKC don’t believe he fits their Timeline so I wouldn’t be surprised. Honestly he is a roadblock to getting higher end picks, since that giant trove of picks they hold are lesser level picks and being good hurts them from making their own picks valuable.
Man Detroit was idiotic for turning that down. If it’s true.
If DET is dumb for turning it down, than OKC has to be dumb for offering it, right? Has to be both or neither….
OKC offered it for the same reason DET turned it down….
OKC was dumb for offering it. SGA is a better player than Cade, and has a higher ceiling.
Thank you for saying what we should always remember in these situations. (Another thing: We don’t actually know for sure that this proposal even happened, or whether there were other aspects we haven’t heard about.) (Before we get too carried away judging either team.)
I don’t think Cade is a franchise piece, but he should be a good player for a while, and he plays the 2/3. Remember, they are still high on Hayes as the PG, which might be why they turned down the OKC trade. So, you have a cheaper player with upside, and you give your #7 pick from 2020 a chance to develop. If they make a trade, it will be with Houston – Green would be the starting two-guard.
Cade is moreso a 1 offensively & a wing defensively, similar to Harden/Simmons/Luka
Not sure they turn down the SGA trade because of Hayes, not like those two can’t play alongside each other — see earlier SGA/CP3/Schroeder lineups. About Cade’s position, I think you’re both right — he’ll probably be able to play anywhere from 1-3, that versatility/flexibility is part of the appeal, right?
SGA is an emerging star, but he’s not worth giving up the top overall pick for, even in conjunction with #6. He’s had one year which would indicate he’s max worthy (and it was with a horrible team, so would he did might not reflect what he can do on a playoff team). His skill set is great, but not special like CC’s. DET might be better in the next couple of years with SGA and #6, but because chances to get a prospect like CC in the draft are finite over a franchise’s life, the risk/reward comes down strongly on the side of taking him. Of course, Weaver should play it out if he as the stomach for doing so (and he more than does). In the end, I don’t see it. Moving to #2 for Green is possible, but only if they like Green better than CC. It won’t principally be due to the other assets.
I’ma guess u missed SGA’s 1st 2 seasons when he was a beast for a couple of playoff teams. Smh y’all gotta start thinking about stuff twice before u hit send.
Good to see Sankara isn’t just an a**hole to my comments. Basically anyone who had a differing opinion is an idiot and doesn’t know basketball.
Shush, fanboy. I engage only with true basketball fans, not fanboys. You’re like a teenage girl, and the Hawks are your boy band. Go away.
Be careful or he might call you an idiot who doesn’t know basketball because you disagree with him.
Well, @philliesfan215, I’ll just have to take that risk, I guess. lol.
FWIW, having had a teenage step daughter, I know they can get emotional when talking about the objects of their affection. Her texts, his posts, pretty similar, but she was less of a twit.
I’d want more for Cade. It’s a good move to go after Oklahoma state star. Plus you don’t have to pay SGA since you are rebuilding anyway. Thunder have all these picks for what ???? Overpay. Do It
I’d take SGA, 6th pick, and future #1. You can get Kuminga or Barnes. Or even trade down for Kai. I’d definitely listen to OKC.
If CC is dealt, it happens less than an hour before the draft starts. Weaver will take offers up until then. If it were me, the only future 1st that might get me seriously thinking of moving the pick to OKC is OKC’s own 2023 pick (unprotected, it comes with the swap right with LAC). SGA, #6 (Kuminga) and that 2023 1st, maybe.
I really think there is bones behind Det liking Green enough to go to 2 –
I only see them dropping as far as 2 tho-
Getting 23 this year and Dets own 1st back in the process might seem low but it’s basically under the umbrella both teams get what they want
Nobody is addressing a possible force-out. Okc about has to offer around.
People always fail to consider what is behind a team’s intention of trading away their best player, especially a young one with major upside. First let us set the record straight once and for all, the fact is SGA doesn’t want to play in OKC, he never wanted to go there and has already told management that he will not sign an extension, period. He’s the disgruntled star that Woj hinted about but due to loyalty and secrecy, he won’t say. In Canada it is a known fact and rumor has it that both Wiggins and RJ Barrett has his ear, that is why Masai Ujiri is closely monitoring the situation for when the opportunity presents itself. You wanna live in denial and think this is not fact? then let’s wait until he’s due for the extention. I will be saving this thread.