NBA Trade Rumors: Grades for Celtics, Thunder swapping Kemba Walker and Al Horford

NBA Trade Grades: Oklahoma City Thunder send out Al Horford for Kemba Walker

The calculus for the Oklahoma City Thunder in evaluating this deal is much simpler. They are firmly in asset maximization mode, with the entire organization behind general manager Sam Presti in ignoring team success while maximizing the future potential.

The Thunder are succeeding and then some at that plan. They might be able to achieve a Process-Sixers level of talent acquisition without the half-decade of misery. Their tear-down was achieved through trades balanced towards the Thunder, and since then they have continued to take on veteran contracts from teams needing to move off of them and flipped them to teams who could better use them. They’re the most handsomely paid middle man in NBA history.

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In 2017 the Thunder flipped Enes Kanter and Doug McDermott to the New York Knicks for Carmelo Anthony. Anthony and a pick became Dennis Schroder, who the Thunder rehabilitated and turned into Danny Green and a first from the Los Angeles Lakers. Danny Green then went to the Philadelphia 76ers for Al Horford and a first before he even played a game for the Thunder.

Horford now becomes Kemba Walker and a first from the Boston Celtics, with Moses Brown and a second added to Boston’s side and the Thunder getting back a 2025 second from the Celtics. The Thunder will take on the extra $20 million or so over the next two seasons and for their trouble they receive a first round pick in this year’s NBA Draft.

This pick gives the Thunder three first-rounders and three second-rounders in July’s Draft. They have a shot at two high-lottery picks, but at the worst, they will have a top-10 pick and two in the late teens after this deal. They also have 18 first-round picks over the next seven drafts.

The Thunder will need to spin these picks into something real. The Boston Celtics in fact are a recent example of a team that struggled to use a treasure trove of draft picks. Yet it’s always better to have the assets than not, and there is no reason to think Presti won’t be as aggressive in using the picks as he was in accumulating them.

Giving up Brown is fine given that the Thunder will add five or six players in the draft. He was fine this past year, but they will keep cycling through players of his ilk and trying to keep or flip the ones that pop. If he was worth something of value to get this deal done, it was easily worth it.

Final Grade: A