5 players the Oklahoma City Thunder may trade away in the 2019 offseason
1. Patrick Patterson
Patrick Patterson enters the offseason with a player option on the final year of his contract with Oklahoma City. All clues point to him picking up that player option — worth $5.7 million — before free agency starts on July 1.
When the Thunder signed Patterson to their mid-level exception back in July of 2017, much of the league heralded it as a quality free agent pickup and the assumed starter next to Paul George and Steven Adams. Now, two years into his three-year contract, Patterson has found himself not just on the bench, but continually not playing due to inconsistency.
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With it clear that Patterson isn’t in the long-term plans for OKC, trading him may be the team’s best option. His trade value is most likely at an all-time low, and chances are that the Thunder wouldn’t get much in return, but trading him into another team’s cap space would save Oklahoma City $5.7 million in salary and around $20 million in the luxury tax.