A pretty crazy idea that came about in “The Hoop Collective Podcast” with Tim Bontemps of ESPN in the past week that the Oklahoma City Thunder could consider trading rising star point guard Shai-Gilgeous Alexander in the near future. While that seems a bit far-fetched at the moment, if there is any spec of truth to it, this would be a fantastic way for the Chicago Bulls to solve their point guard problem.
It’s hard to find a better fit for the future at the one for the Bulls to place alongside the likes of star shooting guard Zach LaVine, center Nikola Vucevic, and rookie forward Patrick Williams, than by putting SGA with them. SGA is one of the true emerging stud point guards in the NBA today. And he is one of the more switchable guards that looks to soon get his first career All-Star nod.
Some of the numbers that SGA put up this season with the Thunder made him look truly worthy of All-Star consideration if nothing else. He averaged around 24 points per game, five rebounds, six assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.7 blocks. And SGA shot 51 percent from the field, 42 percent from beyond the arc, and 81 percent from the free-throw line.
I don’t know where all of this Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the fourth pick talk came from, but sure. If the Raptors can put together a package based around that pick for SGA, you do it 10 out of 10 times.
— Chris Walder (@WalderSports) June 25, 2021
Any route that the Chicago Bulls could take to get Shai-Gilgeous Alexander from OKC realistically would be a good one
There’s a clear problem that the Bulls would face if they tried to trade for SGA. And that is that executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley would likely have to mortgage the rest of this team’s future to get him to the Windy City.
And since the Thunder don’t have many expensive contracts on the books at this point (outside of one big newly acquired salary cap anchor), that takes a potential bargaining chip away from the Bulls.
With all of this in mind, here’s a look into three ways that the Bulls could get SGA to Chicago if the Thunder are in fact looking to make a deal soon.