5 Players Listed As OKC Thunder Trade Targets

The Oklahoma City Thunder are in dire straits. Three key players are out for a considerable time, two of them for the entire season. After Chet Holmgren joined the injured list this past week, the team has to begin its search for reinforcements. 

Brett Siegel writes in Clutch Points that there are five players as names to watch.

Herb Jones, New Orleans Pelicans

The reliable All-Defensive Team wing is steady as she comes as a lockdown perimeter defender, but his offense comes in strictly a complementary role, and can fluctuate. This season, new Pelicans head coach Jamahl Mosley has put the clamps on Jones, cutting his usage and minutes significantly from Jones's norm. He should be available, as he's wasting away in New Orleans.

The Thunder were one of the teams connected to him last year at the trade deadline. 

Ty Jerome, Memphis Grizzlies

His breakout performance to start the season has the Grizzlies' point guard on a lot of people's radar this year. The 8th-year guard spent the second and third seasons of his career in OKC as a rotation player. 

"I can say with certainty from people that I’ve spoken with that he’d be welcomed back with open arms and that he’s beloved within that organization," writes Siegel.

Derrick Jones Jr. and Kris Dunn, LA Clippers

Ironically, these were the two guys who were involved in the play in which star forward Jalen Williams suffered his horrific-looking leg injury. But Jones Jr. is in the final year of his contract and the Clippers can't afford to lose him for nothing. A contending team in need of more defense, like the Thunder, after the losses of Williams and Cason Wallace, could use him. 

Dunn is another disruptive defender and is also in the final year of his contract, at $5.7 million. That's not a heavy price to pay for the D that Dunn brings.

Isaac Okoro, Chicago Bulls

Another elite perimeter on-ball defender, Okoro is getting scant minutes this season for the Bulls, and they could be open to moving him. He's earning $11.8M this year, and is also a free agent after the season. 

Plenty of options here for the Thunder, without having to take on money beyond this season, when, hopefully, Williams and Wallace will be back.