The Oklahoma City Thunder are in a very intriguing position as a franchise because they not only have some promising young players in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Darius Bazley and Luguentz Dort, but they also have 37 draft picks through the 2027 NBA Draft.
This is absolutely unheard of and what they have planned with all of these picks, nobody knows, but the one thing that is certain is that GM Sam Presti and this Oklahoma City front-office will do everything they can to try and acquire more picks near the trade deadline this season. With the emergence of even more young talents on their roster this season, the future is extremely bright for the Thunder and they may be in the best position for long-term success out of any team in this league.
After acquiring Al Horford prior to the start of the season, both he and the Thunder have now agreed that he will sit out the remainder of the games this season to help get the young players on this roster more experience. Horford is a class-act and knows that he does not have a long-term future with the Thunder, so he is putting the team first and helping them in the developmental aspect of the game. He will be a key name to watch in NBA trade rumors during the offseason.
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Oh, and not to mention, Horford is being paid $27.5M this season whether he plays or not so while he probably would love to play in games, I am sure he is fine sitting out and collecting $0.87 every second he sits on the bench this season.
This offseason, the Thunder will definitely look to find a trade partner for Al Horford and given his ability to still be effective on the court, he could have some potential suitors. In 28 games with the Thunder this season, Horford averaged 14.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists and shot 45% from the floor, 36.8% from three-point range, which is why he could be a frontcourt option for the Charlotte Hornets to pursue in the offseason.
With Cody Zeller set to become a free agent and plenty of cap space, the Hornets could definitely make a trade for Horford work and they could get him at a very low price given his ability to still be an effective frontcourt player. Let’s take a look at how the Hornets could make this trade with the Thunder work.
