On the day prior to the NBA trade deadline passing, the Oklahoma City Thunder completed a trade that could crush the championship hopes of opposing fanbases and franchises for this season and beyond. Shams Charania reports that OKC and the Philadelphia 76ers reached an agreement to send Jared McCain to the Thunder in exchange for some draft picks. The NBA's defending champions and top team this season have just improved their roster.
Additionally, the Thunder made another move that saw them send Ousmane Dieng to the Hornets for Mason Plumlee. In more unfortunate news for everyone else, the two trades were enough to bring the Thunder under the luxury tax threshold. Bravo, OKC, bravo...
McCain, off to a slow start this season, is averaging just 6.6 points per game, but he has upside. He averaged 15.3 points last year on his way to seventh place in the Rookie of the Year voting while playing in an injury-shortened 23 games.
And if it couldn't get worse, the Thunder control a bevy of draft picks, too. 12 first-round picks and 13 second-round picks over the next seven drafts. They're set up so well for the future. Honestly? It's enviable.
The Nuggets still have the bigger weapon
For all that reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is, he is not the Joker. Nikola Jokic continues his epic run of efficiency this season keeping him in the race for MVP as long as he can stay healthy. Jokic can only miss two more games this season to qualify for the postseason awards.
For many, Jokic is the bigger weapon on the floor. His court vision and rebounding — he leads the league in assists (10.5) and rebounds (12.1) once qualified — are much better than those of SGA. Both players can score at will, but that's not necessarily Joker's game; however, it's definitely SGA's. SGA led the league in scoring last year and is leading again this year, too.
SGA also hasn't had to deal with the copious amount of injuries and the adversity that Jokic has been forced to endure this season. Their coaching staff hasn't had to come up with a billion (slight exaggeration) lineup combinations or play the entire bench in the starting unit.
It's been brutal for the Nuggets lately, but they're still only seven games behind OKC for first place in the West. Pretty good considering they've mostly been playing with two or three starters for three months.