The Oklahoma City Thunder pulled off the most stunning move of the 2016 NBA draft by shipping away veteran forward Serge Ibaka to the Orlando Magic and getting guard Victor Oladipo in return.
ESPN.com’s Royce Young shared the full details of the trade, one in which some might consider the Thunder pulling a forward-looking move to help better position the team if Durant decides to leave.
Except that’s not what it is at all.
According to Young, the Ibaka trade is all about convincing Durant to re-sign with the team:
There were rumblings around the league on Thursday that the Thunder were shopping Ibaka, and while for the most part they were simply fielding calls and turning down offers, they had one on the table early in the afternoon that they loved. The front office spent the next few hours discussing exactly what everyone else is right now: How would this impact Kevin Durant‘s decision?
The final verdict? Positively.
The crazy part? It might just work.
The arrival of Oladipo should excite Durant because it gives him a legit shooting guard to run the floor with for the first time since the James Harden days. And the triple-headed monster of Russell Westbrook, Oladipo and Durant becomes one of the most dangerous in the league from a sheer athleticism standpoint, helping the team better contend in an NBA world now defined by Golden State’s small-ball approach.
It’s easy to see why some might view losing Ibaka as a negative when it comes to Durant, but it ignores the iffy situation between the two sides, as Young explained:
But this season, Ibaka’s role changed. He became a full-time stretch-4. He was asked to transfer the ball from one side of the floor to the other, to reconsider early clock jumpers. He struggled with the transition, complaining in March about touches. He called this season the “toughest of his career” at exit interviews in early June. He’s set to become a free agent next summer, and the growing feeling was he was going to be looking to somewhere other than Oklahoma City to sign.
The Thunder were likely to lose Ibaka anyway as they transitioned to the small-ball look. Instead of getting nothing in return, the Thunder took another large step toward the goal by ripping off the Magic and getting a player they have coveted for years, anyway.
The idea Durant returns on a short-term deal with a player option just got a whole lot stronger.
