2 teams that could engage the Boston Celtics for an Aaron Nesmith trade

Boston Celtics trade partner No. 2) OKC Thunder

The OKC Thunder are another team that finds itself in the midst of a full-out rebuilding phase though, unlike the Magic, they already seem to have two franchise cornerstones in the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey (he was snubbed from the All-Rookie First Team but you better believe this man’s a future star).

Now, moving forward, their next mission is almost certainly to continue stockpiling high-potential talents alongside these two aforementioned studs, and, while to many this process will be almost entirely done via the draft, some may suggest that it would be wise for them to make some low-risk, high reward caliber deals along the way.

Throughout their journey since the days of Russell Westbrook, General Manager, Sam Presti, has managed to cultivate an obscene amount of draft capital, totaling a whopping 13 additional first-round selections through the year 2026.

On the surface, this kind of capital is absolutely envious but, when digging a bit deeper, one will realize that there’s actually no way the franchise can hold onto all of these picks–mind you, this is not even including their second-round picks–, for an NBA roster can only consist of up to 15 players and, already, they have quite a few players already that they’d like to keep in tow for moving forward.

Because of this, they may wish to consider swapping out some of their picks (be it very late firsts or a few seconds) for some other players across the league that could fit their timeline, and Aaron Nesmith could be seen as such a player worth pursuing.

With guys like Darius Bazley, Giddey, and SGA running the show, it’s already more than apparent that the Thunder are far more focused on developing for the future as opposed to looking to contend in the immediate future, and a player like Nesmith could be a sensational high-potential addition to bring onto their unbelievably young and talented core.

Be it when he averaged 8.6 points and 5.1 rebounds on 42 percent shooting from deep when receiving 20+ minutes per game during his rookie campaign, during this past Summer League where he boasted averages of 17.4 points and 6.2 rebounds on 50 percent shooting from the field in 26.7 minutes, or in the preseason where he posted 10.8 points on 53 percent shooting from the floor and 50 percent shooting from deep in 17.1 minutes the 22-year-old has proven to have the ability to look quite impressive when given extended run.

On a team like OKC, the young wing would have ample opportunity to prove his worth within the rotation and, in turn, Presti could potentially get away with trading a later pick (perhaps the rights to Phoenix’s pick) to get back a lottery selected talent still on his rookie-scale deal.