The NBA’s trade deadline is still over a month away, but the market is already heating up with the Oklahoma City Thunder right at the heart of it all.
Rumor has it that Thunder general manager Sam Presti is working on a deal that will bring Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez over to the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Per USA TODAY’s Sam Amick:
"“A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed that the Thunder, Brooklyn Nets and Charlotte Hornets are discussing a deal that would send Nets center Brook Lopez to the Thunder, Hornets guard Lance Stephenson to his hometown Nets and the Thunder’s Jeremy Lamb and the Nets’ Jarrett Jack to the Hornets.”"
The 26-year-old has been out of favor with Lionel Hollins in Brooklyn having been used off the bench recently, but his move to Oklahoma City would certainly be welcomed. He is exactly the kind of player the Thunder frontcourt has been lacking: a low-post scoring player who can also hit midrange jumpers.
More from Hoops Habit
- The 5 most dominant NBA players who never won a championship
- 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
- Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
- Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
- Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
Serge Ibaka has the potential to provide such a threat thanks to his outstanding jump shot and athleticism, but he typically alters between settling for outside jumpers or seemingly not being interested in playing offense.(Okay, maybe “not interested” is too strong a description, but the point remains: he certainly could demand the ball in threatening positions a little more). Still, he contributes roughly 14 points on a nightly basis.
Steven Adams has assumed the starting role this year and proven that he has the strength and is willing to bang with the big boys in the low post. Yet for all his effort and willingness to try and create something, he is hardly the answer. The same can be said for backups Kendrick Perkins and Nick Collison.
Combined, all three players tally up 60 minutes worth of game time, yet they provide an average of just 15.5 points per game. Lopez on the other hand is averaging 14.6 points per game while shooting 50.4 percent from the field. He is comfortable in the post, plus, when he his midrange shots are falling, he is a handful to deal with.
He’s not too shabby on the defensive end either. Lopez eats up a heck of a lot of room in the paint thanks to his 7’0″, 275-pound frame. That has enabled him to rack up over 1.5 blocks per game and alter a few more attempts, in addition to hauling in north of six boards in 26 minutes of action.
The USA Today report goes on to state that Kendrick Perkins will likely be included in order to balance out the financial aspect of the deal. That means Reggie Jackson is once again omitted from a major trade, which will enable Presti to keep a major bargaining chip, should he opt to ship the highly rated point guard elsewhere, of course. (There is still a chance, albeit small, that Jackson stays with the Oklahoma City Thunder until the summer).
Unfortunately, there are a couple of issues in trading for Brook Lopez.
1). He will make $15.7 million this season and has a $16.7 million player option for next year, which he will likely opt into. That adds a yet another strain on the small-market Thunder’s salary cap, which is already flirting with the hard-cap and its more punitive taxes.
2). Brook Lopez has a history of foot injuries. In 2011-12, he played just five regular season games; then last year he managed just 17 games. Considering how much injuries have already ruined the Oklahoma City Thunder’s season so far, adding another body with a sketchy history is a pretty risky move.
Nonetheless, these are things Presti should be able to get over when it comes time to pull the trigger. With a 18-20 record in mid-January and considering the way things have been going lately, even the most optimistic among us are surely starting to have doubts.
They have hit a rough patch lately, going 7-6 in the last 13 outings as well as one win in the last four. The California road trip against Golden State and Sacramento was a disaster as they got blown out by over 20 points in each game. A win versus the Utah Jazz somewhat eased the bleeding, although a 99-94 win against the third worst team in the conference was hardly convincing.
Plus it seemed like they were headed for another blowout against the Houston Rockets after a 40-18 by the end of the first quarter, but they did battle back to a more modest 112-101 loss.
Still, the team looks like they are in real trouble with the Golden State Warriors, Washington Wizards and Atlanta Hawks, all coming up within the next five games. Fortunately, help is (supposedly) on the way.