OKC Thunder: Analyzing a blockbuster trade for Ben Simmons

Does this blockbuster Ben Simmons trade work for the OKC Thunder?

The OKC Thunder ended up being one of the biggest losers in last month’s NBA draft lottery. Instead of ending up with a top-five pick of their own and getting the Houston Rockets’ top-four protected pick, their 2021 draft pick ended up going sixth, and the Rockets got the second pick and managed to retain it.

As a result, they don’t have the kind of top-end draft capital it’s going to take to make a swing for a legitimate star. They just have a ton of random picks in this draft, including the sixth, 16th and 18th picks in this draft, and future drafts. These are nice assets to have, certainly, but they aren’t major needle-movers.

This means a player like Ben Simmons might be the best they can come up with by way of using their sprawling draft capital. He could make for a good pairing with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but given his absolute reticence to ever shoot the ball, it’s hard to argue that he’s really an excellent pairing with anybody.

The described trade isn’t bad for the Thunder, but it’s not great either. If the Thunder and general manager Sam Presti don’t absolutely love Ben Simmons, maybe this just isn’t the deal for them.

This trade works for the OKC Thunder, but we’re not thrilled about it.