NFL
By: Mark T. Wilson
The Oklahoma City Thunder are a team no one is talking about when it comes to Giannis Antetokounmpo. The reason being, is that everyone believes they have a dynasty in the making after winning the 2024-25 NBA Championship. And why would they dismantle such a strong young team? Well, adding Giannis would easily put them at the top of the NBA, yet again.
While the rumors have centered around the San Antonio Spurs or maybe even the New York Knicks, the truth is, no one is better suited to make a deal with the Milwaukee Bucks quite like the Thunder can.
With a player like Giannis, the Bucks will, without a doubt, be looking to gain star players and future draft picks. This is exactly what the Oklahoma City Thunder have that the other teams will fall short on. Next season alone, they have 3 first-round picks (2 are protected), but still. If that’s not enough, they are fresh off a title run, which will boost their current players’ resumes.
If you’re looking for more reasons, the Thunder also have young players they can add to the draft picks like Jalen Williams, Lou Dort, Cason Wallace, and maybe even Chet Holmgren. The Bucks could get younger and cheaper with a trade with the Thunder.
For Oklahoma City, this would change things in the West. Forget Luka being added to the Lakers, the growth of Anthony Edwards in Minnesota, and now the addition of Kevin Durant in Houston, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, well, that’s a team no one wants to see in a playoff series.
A package of 4-5 first-rounders, Jalen Williams, Wallace and Alex Caruso should be enough to get the deal done. The Bucks will receive an All-Star in Williams, a solid defensive player in Wallace, a workhorse in Caruso, and picks for 2026, 2027, and 2028. Couple that with their young players, and the Bucks could find themselves back in the thick of things in the East.
The NBA is a business, and Giannis is now understanding that. He wants to win, and the team that’s currently surrounding him cannot get it done. He’s about to enter his 13th year in the league, and he’s sitting on just one championship. Watching a ton of teams around him get healthy and younger, that has to light a fire inside him. So far, he has said all the right things regarding his tenure and future with the Bucks. He wants to win with them, but with the way the offseason is shaping up, he may have one foot out the door already.
An Oklahoma City Thunder lineup that has SGA, Holmgren, and Giannis will be scarier than what they displayed this past season. Williams is a great up-and-coming player and fits well beside SGA, but the addition of Giannis is another layer of horror for the league.
It’s rare to look at a current champion and think about how they can improve. But for all the heat he has taken with the losing, Sam Presti has done well in past trades that has put his team in a position to have this type of star power reach. This could be like the Golden State Warriors adding Durant after winning 73 regular-season games and blowing a 3-1 Finals lead to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
If this is to be done, then adding their 2024 first-round draft pick, Nikola Topic to the pool still won’t hurt. Presti has made all the right moves, and in the end, he could walk away with one of the biggest trades in NBA history. What the Lakers did with Luka would be minuscule to what the Oklahoma City Thunder could pull off with just a phone call.
