Sam Presti is easily one of the most active general managers in the entire NBA and he proved it again this afternoon by trading Ersan Ilyasova and a conditional 1st round pick to the Philadelphia 76ers for Jerami Grant.
The Thunder are sending Ersan Ilyasova and a highly protected first rounder to Philly for Jerami Grant, per @MarcJSpearsESPN and others.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) November 1, 2016
So first lets clear up the specifics of the trade. The first round pick has protections in it that make it nearly impossible for it to actually become Philadelphia’s pick. Should the pick land anywhere in the 21-30 range of the 1st round, the Thunder will keep the pick. This is all but guaranteed to be the place this pick will land.
If that happens, then the Thunder would then owe the 76ers two 2nd round picks. So basically it will all but guarantee that its just 2 2nd round picks and not a first.
Jerami Grant averaged 9.7 points per game and 1.6 blocks. He is 22 years old. He will like play a 3 or small ball 4 for the Thunder. He also fills a big hole at shot blocking for the Thunder that was vacated by Serge Ibaka.
Grant’s trade also points to several interesting sub plots.
- The Thunder decreased their 3 point shooting with this trade. Which if this was the only move the Thunder were to make it would be baffling, however the Thunder now possess the ability to take back 7.1 million in salary in a trade. My guess is they aren’t done yet.
- Does this trade say anything about Andre Roberson and his future with the Thunder? Roberson and the Thunder did not come to a rookie extension agreement and a lot of what Roberson does can be duplicated by Grant. Would the Thunder look at moving Roberson now that he is set to hit a major pay day in restricted free agency. I’m not entirely convinced, but the prospect of a team adding Andre Roberson via the trade market opens up a huge range of possibilities for the Thunder. If Roberson were to become available, you could see a wide range of trade possibilities from across the NBA. Otto Porter? Will Barton? TJ Warren? All of these guys plus more would likely be on the Thunder radar if Roberson were to be made available via trade
- Rudy Gay’s salary is $13.3 million for this season. He has been linked to the Thunder and is quietly having his best year by far in a long time. You subtract the 7.1 million the Thunder can take back in a trade and Rudy Gay is quickly available for a package of something like Kyle Singler and Cameron Payne. That is a deal that I believe gets done sooner rather than later.