If we rewind back to the end of season press conference Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti had, a couple of the prevailing themes came to the forefront. The first being the Thunder would not cut corners in order to get back to where they want to be. Two quotes stuck out to me when referencing this theme. The first being, “We’re running our own race. We’re not watching the clock. We know our time is going to come. We can’t predict when that’s going to be, but we’re up for the challenge here.” And the other being, “We’re closer to being the team we want to be this season than we were last season, but we’re still really far away from ultimately getting to the level we want to be at.”

The other theme was the fact the Thunder will likely wait until after the new CBA is signed during the 2023 offseason before diving into any real roster building outside of the draft. Presti harkened back to previous Thunder teams whose flexibility was basically nullified by the new CBA rules of the time.

But I would say what we can’t have happen is to be mid-stream, which has happened, and a brand new bouquet of rules is introduced that is not advantageous to where you are in your building process. One time, okay; two times, hmm; but not happening three times. So we have to be eyes wide open on what that really means. Like I said, if I was a fan right now I’d shut my ears because this is not interesting, but if you’re trying to run an NBA franchise in 2022 and beyond, in 20 of the 30 cities, you’re going to be tuned into the CBA, revenue sharing and TV deal. Those things really set the cast for how you operate.

If we take Presti at his word, then I don’t think the Thunder will be too interested in free agency and in the trade market this offseason and upcoming season. Instead, I believe this will be the last year where Oklahoma City will truly be in asset acquisition mode. We’ve heard the numbers before: OKC has 17 possible first round picks over the next five drafts, including this year’s draft. Is it possible to have too many first round picks for a period of time? Yes, if you don’t have a plan. But Presti laid out how some of those firsts may be used in the future. During the presser, he talked about the price of obtaining veterans to fill out the roster via trades. Said recent trades cost between one and two firsts for valuable veterans. If that is what the Thunder are going for, why not try to obtain the most valuable assets possible.

Recently, Russell Westbrook, currently of the Los Angeles Lakers, decided to purge some pictures from his Instagram account. One thing that was very noticeable from the purging: the only pictures that remained were those of his regular life and those of him in Thunder gear. All the Lakers, Rockets, and Wizards-related pictures were deleted. While some basketball players have a habit of deleting team-related pictures during the offseason, the fact that Westbrook kept his OKC pictures got people talking.

While it may be nothing, always remember that Presti does a ton of his work behind the scenes. The trade that sent Chris Paul to Phoenix was likely consummated, not in the 2020 offseason, but instead, likely, on January 31st, 2020 when the Thunder played the Suns in Phoenix. It was there where the widely circulated video of Suns GM James Jones telling Presti to follow him as they headed into the tunnel occurred. Between that game and their time in the Bubble in Orlando, I’m sure much, if not all, of the framework for that trade was constructed then. With both the Lakers and Thunder having so much time on their hands, what’s to say Presti and Lakers GM Rob Pelinka haven’t already had some preliminary discussions. And with Presti’s relationship with Westbrook, who’s to say all three parties aren’t keyed into what the next step may be.

This all begs the question: What does a trade for Westbrook look like for the Thunder? Before we jump into specifics, there are some caveats that need to be discussed. First off, the return from the Lakers will definitely need to be in the form of, at least, two future first round picks, both either unprotected or very lightly protected (no more than top-4 protected). Secondly, there likely needs to be an agreement between the Thunder and Westbrook before the trade even occurs on a buy-out amount. Westbrook is due to make $47 million next season. The Thunder do not have the ability to absorb that amount without risking their cap flexibility for future seasons. For a team that is in the middle of a rebuild, that is extremely important. The agreed upon amount needs to be that mid-point between what makes Westbrook happy and what keeps the Thunder’s cap sheet flexible. Westbrook making $47 million is a toxic asset no team wants to touch. But an unrestricted free agent Westbrook with 35-40 million already in his pocket is a prime commodity.

Now on to the trade, which will actually be quite painless once the above caveats are met. If the Lakers are willing to part with the two first round picks, the easiest path to making this work is essentially Derrick Favors and Ty Jerome for Westbrook. A sweetner that may make the Thunder more attractive than say, the Charlotte Hornets, could be adding the rights to Vasilije Micic to the trade.

One question that may arise is how do the Thunder stay out of the luxury tax if this gets done. First off, the Thunder have the ability to keep all 15 of their current players. Of course, in this scenario. Favors and Jerome are no longer with the team. But if we really get down to the true rotation of the roster, it only goes about 10 deep.

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
• Josh Giddey
• Tre Mann
• Aaron Wiggins
• Lu Dort
• Aleksej Pokusevski
• Darius Bazley
• Mike Muscala
• Kenrich Williams
• Jeremiah Robinson-Earl

Those 10 players plus the dead money for Kemba Walker and Kyle Singler (still??) comes out to a little over $86 million. Now, let’s look at the Thunder’s pick situation. The Thunder are positioned to pick 4th, 12th, and 30th in the first round. But the lottery won’t be for another 3 weeks. Let’s say that by a miracle of all miracles, the Thunder luck into the 1st, 2nd, and 30th pick. The highest amount to pay for rookies in those positions is a little less than $23 million. Luckily (or unluckily) for OKC, the chances of the dream scenario happening are about 0.16% (shoutout @TylerCarroll12). Let’s say, realistically, the Thunder get #1, #12, and #30. The total cost of those three rookies, salary-wise, is reduced to $17.4 million.

That gets the Thunder up to 13 players under contract at a total of $103.5 million. The Thunder generally like to go into the season with only 14 players. Which means, the 14th roster spot will likely be a battle between Vit Krejci, Isaiah Roby, and whoever the Thunder pick at #34. Luckily none of those players make more than $1.9 million. Let’s say the Thunder bring Roby and Krejci back and two-way the 2nd rounder. That gives them 15 contracted players at a total of $107 million.

The projected salary cap number for next season is $122 million and the luxury tax line is $149 million. If Westbrook takes a clean $40 million buyout, that brings the Thunder’s salaried total to $147 million. While that is close to the line, the Thunder have options to cut salary, if necessary. In addition to those 17 first rounders over the next five drafts, they also have 15 second rounders over the next seven drafts. They could easily send Roby or Krejci to another team with a 2nd attached in the deal.

With all this said, I never once mentioned that Westbrook would stay with this team if traded here. While that idea is an extremely polarizing one within the Thunder fandom, Presti’s vision does not include an aging point guard who is currently championship-chasing. If anything, this is mutually beneficial for all three parties involved. The Thunder get a final haul of assets before they likely start cashing some of them in the next offseason, the Lakers get some salary cap relief and flexibility to keep building around LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and Westbrook gets something that he’s never had in his career: freedom to choose where he wants to go.