2020 rewind: 5 best Oklahoma City Thunder transactions of the year
The Oklahoma City Thunder were one of the most active teams this past year.
After choosing to keep players Chris Paul, Dennis Schroder and Danilo Gallinari, even when teams were publicly chasing Schroder and Gallinari at the trade deadline, the Thunder made the playoffs.
Then they traded everyone.
General manager Sam Presti was impressive as he flipped and flopped players around the league, making trades with seemingly half the teams in the NBA.
Let’s take a look back over this past year, at both offseason acquisitions and transactions that happened during the season, and review the most impactful ones for Oklahoma City.
5. James Johnson trade
Photo: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports This trade will be a footnote in Thunder history, but pulling off multiple picks and multiple players for James Johnson was an impressive piece of work. Oklahoma City traded Johnson, a forward on an expensive expiring contract who never played for the Thunder, in a three-team deal with the Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistson. The Thunder traded: James Johnson The Thunder received: Trevor Ariza, Justin Jackson, a 2023 second-round pick (best from either Dallas or the Miami Heat) and a 2026 second-round pick (Dallas). Just a crazy return for Johnson. Should Ariza be traded around the deadline, that'll add another piece to this.
4. Danny Green, Terrance Ferguson trade
Photo: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Similar to Johnson, the Thunder only had Green for a few minutes. A veteran on an expiring deal, it never really seemed like he was going to play a game for Oklahoma City in the first place. They got a lot for him from the Philadelphia 76ers. In exchange for Green, Terrance Ferguson and Vincent Poirier (acquired for cash from the Boston Celtics), Oklahoma City received center Al Horford, the draft rights to Theo Maledon, a 2025 first-round Sixers pick and the draft rights to Vasilije Micic. Horford already looks more like the player he was in Boston than the one he was with the Sixers last season, and it would be unsurprising if he were eventually traded for positive value. Maledon was a steal with the No. 34 pick and is already seeing 20 minutes in games. Add in a first-round pick to take Horford's contract, and that's a good day for the Thunder. This can be extended as a shoutout to Dennis Schroder as well, who was traded for Green (which resulted in all that) and the No. 28 pick (which was used in a trade for Aleksej Pokusevski).
3. Steven Adams haul
Photo: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
Presti called the decision to trade Adams a challenging one, but the franchise-altering move was one of the best deals he pulled off this year. Value-wise, there's an argument it was the best. Adams was part of a four-team deal that netted the Thunder five players -- two of whom have since been waived -- and three draft picks. Here's what remains with the Thunder: Players: George Hill, Darius Miller, Kenrich Williams Picks: 2023 lottery-protected first-round pick via Denver Nuggets, 2023 second-round pick via the Washington Wizards, 2024 second-round pick via Charlotte Hornets Adams was a foundational piece of the Thunder for the better part of a decade, but his trade value was low after the Rockets series and OKC's reported acquisition of Al Horford. That's why it ranks ahead of the Green trade, though it ranks No. 3 because it doesn't quite have the return of what's ahead of it. From Adams, the Thunder got usable players, a first-round pick and two other future picks. Hill and Miller are theoretically tradeable, too. Getting in on this deal was a masterful stroke by Presti.
2. Lu Dort extension
Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Pool Photo-USA TODAY Sports
Among players who are not on rookie contracts, Lu Dort's deal might be the most team-friendly in the league. In June, Dort and the Thunder agreed to an extension worth just $5.4 million over four years. He was paid a prorated $155,647 for 2019-20, and the Thunder have him locked up for three more seasons, none of which even reach the $2 million mark. Dort, who was signed as an undrafted free agent, chose security. He signed the deal after playing 29 games, and with the final two years not fully guaranteed, he ensured he would get at least $2.3 million. But the Thunder might as well fully guarantee the rest right now, because he's not going anywhere. Dort is one of the best defenders in the NBA as a second-year player, which will allow him to remain a key piece of the team even if his offense never rounds into league-average shape. But in a year in which the Thunder made trades with half the league -- literally -- one of the best transactions was signing a player they already had.
1. Trading Chris Paul at the right time
Photo: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Is it cheating to say that the best transaction involved not making a transaction? The Thunder could have traded Chris Paul away at a high value during the 2020-21 season as he proved he was still an All-Star, but elected to keep him for one final postseason run. In the end, they got what they wanted anyway. Oklahoma City reached the playoffs, where it put up a competitive seven-game fight against the Houston Rockets. Then, the Thunder traded Paul and used his return to get what they were really after. They flipped Ricky Rubio, their own first-round pick, and the No. 28 pick from the Los Angeles Lakers (thanks, Schroder) for the draft rights to Pokusevski. They traded Kelly Oubre Jr. for another first-round pick, giving them two total firsts in the Paul deal (along with Phoenix's protected 2022 pick). We already talked about the James Johnson trade, who came from the Minnesota deal along with Pokusevski. The extended return netted them Pokusevski, two first-round picks and a whole lot of other, smaller capital. They did all this by trading Paul at the right time and not bailing out of an exciting season before hitting rebuild. Same can be said for their willingness to keep Schroder and Danilo Gallinari. With the Paul trade -- and all the others that were a result of it -- that rebuild can happen a little quicker.
