Thunder reportedly offer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to Pistons for No. 1 pick

(Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

Early this morning, it was reported that the Oklahoma City Thunder offered Shai Gilegous-Alexander and the sixth pick in Thursday’s 2021 NBA Draft to the Detroit Pistons for the top overall pick, according Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report:

The latest trade details around the NBA, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s quiet, yet surprising availability, and a few nuggets on front office maneuvering in Dallas and Boston, all at @BR_NBA: https://t.co/KfyHSWBOVn

— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) July 27, 2021

The trade is still just a “rumor” but it seems to hold a little more weight than middle school gossip. The Thunder has been proactive on the trade front ahead of the draft and could be looking to use their picks and a young star like Gilgeous-Alexander to move up in a strong draft.

Social media accounts and websites that reported the trade rumor also quickly revealed the Pistons had already turned down any such trade for the No. 1 spot. So it looks like SGA will stay put–for now.

Assuming the trade was real and Oklahoma City did offer No. 6 and Alexander for No. 1 — somebody oughta smack Sam Presti. The last time the Thunder traded a former Wildcat to Detroit, Hamidou Diallo was shipped to Detroit for Svi Mykaliuk and a slightly better second-rounder when he was second on the team in scoring behind SGA at the time.

Months later, now OKC is looking to abandon its young star for a shot at a guy who may not even be as good.

Cade Cunningham is a terrific prospect, worthy of the No. 1 pick. But being picked first doesn’t guarantee stardom. Let’s just look at how many guards picked no. 1 have ever eclipsed 23.7 points a game on 50% shooting by their third season, which are marks that Shai just hit in 2021.

Here’s the list:

• Oscar Robertson

It is entirely possible that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is already better than Cade Cunningham will ever be. SGA was so good that his team benched him and lost 24 of their final 26 games to end the season. They won one game per month without SGA! Furthermore, when the OKC’s golden child did play, the Thunder had a 16-19 record. Nearly .500! And they were 6-31 without him. He may have a case to win MVP on that stat alone.

All the outrage to say…Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is not worth swapping from 6 to 1 in this draft. Whatever you think Cade can be in two or three years…it’s almost certainly not better than Gilegous-Alexander right now.

Even though it looks like Oklahoma City will keep Shai anyways, how is he going to feel about being shopped around for a pick upgrade by a franchise that doesn’t seem amused by his immense offensive talent? He’s better than that. He’s better than how the Thunder treat him. Shai played so well that his team had to bench him for nearly half a season so they could stick to tanking — and now they’re ready to toss their only positive asset aside like a cigarette butt so they can swing on the No. 1 pick?

I don’t get it. I wish Detroit had accepted the trade. Get Shai out of that winless hell-hole in Oklahoma.