Bulls-Thunder Trade: Team grades in five-player deal
Oklahoma City Thunder
Grade: A-
This is a slam dunk from Sam Presti because he improves on his team’s weaknesses. The Thunder were the second-worst 3-point shooting team in the NBA before this trade (behind your Chicago Bulls), and so adding Doug McDermott immediately helps toward fixing that problem.
Of course, McDermott alone isn’t going to transform the Thunder into some sharpshooting juggernaut, but he’s an above-average shooter from deep, and defenses respect him from that range.
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Gibson will pair up with Steven Adams to form a monstrous defensive front line, and immediately becomes the best power forward on OKC’s roster. Gibson’s presence will allow Jerami Grant to move to a slightly smaller role as well, which will be good in the long run.
The Thunder also get another draft pick, and depending on what happens with Jimmy Butler this offseason, that pick could very well be in the low 30s. Chicago continues to treat second round picks like they have no value, and Sam Presti is benefiting.
The only downside to this deal from OKC’s standpoint is that it probably means more minutes for Semaj Christon, who hasn’t yet proven himself to be a viable backup point guard in the NBA.