Oklahoma City Thunder: 2016 Offseason Grades

The Ibaka Trade

The Thunder would eventually lose Kevin Durant to free agency, but you can’t fault their draft night efforts to reconfigure the roster and convince him to stay.

In a draft-day trade with the Orlando Magic, OKC shipped away Serge Ibaka for a nice haul of Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and the No. 11 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, Domantas Sabonis. The funny thing is, with Durant gone, this trade to get younger actually looks even better for OKC.

Ilyasova, a 29-year-old stretch-4, was meant to be Ibaka’s replacement at the 4, if only in his ability to spread the floor with his career 37 percent shooting from three-point range. He was never going to replicate Ibaka’s defense or rim protection, but he would’ve played spot/starter’s minutes well enough until OKC went to whatever Death Lineup it wanted.

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With Durant and Dion Waiters gone, Ilyasova is less important for the rotation and the true value of the trade — getting younger — shines through. That starts with the 24-year-old Oladipo, who will pair with Westbrook to form one of the league’s most athletically dynamic backcourts.

Though Oladipo struggled to find his footing last season, vacillating between a starting job and sixth man duty, his underwhelming numbers — 16.0 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 3.9 APG, 1.6 SPG, 43.8 FG%, 34.8 3P% — may have just been a case of right player, wrong coach.

Scott Skiles‘ resignation and the changing roles for many of Orlando’s youngsters were tell-tale signs of a need for change on both sides, and Oladipo’s inconsistency may have been the poster child for those issues.

In OKC, Oladipo will get his chance to start living up to his potential, and his defense — along with Westbrook’s, when Russ is fully locked in — will be terrifying for opposing backcourts. At the very worst, he’ll be a more efficient shooting version of Andre Roberson. At best, he’ll have a better chance at becoming a star alongside one of the best point guards in the NBA.

With Sabonis, the Thunder added to an already crowded, young frontcourt of Enes Kanter, Steven Adams and Mitch McGary. However, McGary and Ilyasova are really the only ones suited to play the 4 for long stretches, which should eventually open up some minutes for Sabonis, one of the most polished rookies from this year’s draft class.

At Gonzaga last year, Baby Arvydas averaged 17.6 points, 11.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game while shooting 61.1 percent from the floor and 35.7 percent from three-point range (on a very limited number of attempts, but still).

Sabonis is one of the best rebounders in this year’s draft class, he’s a polished low-post scorer, his high basketball IQ and passing ability are reminiscent of his father, and he’s NBA-ready now. He’ll need to improve his perimeter game and develop more of a right hand, but Sabonis is yet another promising piece of OKC’s young core.

Losing Ibaka, the third member of OKC’s Big Three following the departure of James Harden, was not the reason Durant left. It probably hurt to send away such a pivotal part of the Thunder’s floor spacing and team defense, but Ibaka’s rim protection had been steadily declining over the last few seasons, along with his numbers across the board:

• 2013-14:  15.1 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 2.7 BPG, 53.6 FG%, 38.3 3P%
• 2014-15:  14.3 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 2.4 BPG, 47.6 FG%, 37.6 3P%
• 2015-16:  12.6 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 1.9 BPG, 47.9 FG%, 32.6 3P%

Ibaka will also be an unrestricted free agent next summer, and with Durant gone, the Thunder may have had a hard time committing max money to keep a player who hadn’t improved much over the last few years. Oladipo will also make $5.8 million less than Ibaka next season, and OKC has a better shot at keeping him next summer as a restricted free agent than Ibaka.

Since Ibaka never hit that star threshold that was envisioned for him when the front office first prioritized his re-signing over James Harden’s, Oklahoma City easily got the better end of this deal.

Ilyasova is a non-essential piece, but the Thunder got younger for their retool/rebuild around Westbrook. They got great value for Ibaka in the process, and though the deal wasn’t enough to convince KD to stay, it actually put the Thunder in a better position for their future plans while also keeping the team competitive in the here and now.

Grade: A-

Next: The Rest Of The Draft