Official NBA General Discussion 2025-26 V1.0

[DelAbbot]

OKC will trade Chet + picks for Giannis regardless of this Finals outcome

Smartest thing to do

Chet's not going anywhere. A team like this as young as it is...all they need is to keep developing and they'll be back and even better next season. Chet is in his second season. No reason to believe he won't continue to develop and he'll be better next season. The Thunder are the last team that needs to chase Giannis or KD.

Chet's ceiling is nowhere close to Giannis' current level. And OKC's window is not so long that they can wait for Chet to improve to ceiling. This is about as perfect a trade to go for a 2-year championship window (after this Finals) as any contender can get.

[mtcan]

Smartest thing to do

Chet's not going anywhere. A team like this as young as it is...all they need is to keep developing and they'll be back and even better next season. Chet is in his second season. No reason to believe he won't continue to develop and he'll be better next season. The Thunder are the last team that needs to chase Giannis or KD.

Chet's ceiling is nowhere close to Giannis' current level. And OKC's window is not so long that they can wait for Chet to improve to ceiling. This is about as perfect a trade to go for a 2-year championship window (after this Finals) as any contender can get.

Giannis' projected ceiling was nowhere what it actually is now. Chet has a pretty high ceiling as is.
OKC's current window is longer than 2 years with Giannis.

Chet and Dub are less than 25 years of age.

People here are way too impatient.

[DelAbbot]

Chet's not going anywhere. A team like this as young as it is...all they need is to keep developing and they'll be back and even better next season. Chet is in his second season. No reason to believe he won't continue to develop and he'll be better next season. The Thunder are the last team that needs to chase Giannis or KD.

Chet's ceiling is nowhere close to Giannis' current level. And OKC's window is not so long that they can wait for Chet to improve to ceiling. This is about as perfect a trade to go for a 2-year championship window (after this Finals) as any contender can get.

Giannis' projected ceiling was nowhere what it actually is now. Chet has a pretty high ceiling as is.
OKC's current window is longer than 2 years with Giannis.

Chet and Dub are less than 25 years of age.

People here are way too impatient.

Just because Giannis exceeded his projected ceiling doesn't mean Chet will reach the same ceiling as Giannis.

OKC already has 2 All-NBA level starters in SGA and JDub. Add Giannis will absolutely fix all of its current needs like rebounding and 2nd/3rd scorer. A trio of SGA, JDB and Giannis for 2-3 years very good already.

Moreoever Giannis on-court production exceeds his salary, whereas Chet will demand a max but not certain to produce equivalent on-court. Also OKC doesn't have enough roster spots for the war-chest of FRPs Presti can trade away for Giannis.

Giannis is a perfect opportunity to consolidate into a higher ceiling core for OKC.

[OakleyDokely]

The issue for OKC is that their team gets very expensive very soon. The new CBA isn't built for teams having 3 max players, one of which will be a supermax guy. Eventually, OKC likely has to decide between JWill and Chet. It makes sense to be as aggressive as possible while they still have key guys on their rookie deals.

SGA is already on a max and is now supermax eligible. JWill is max eligible this offseason and Chet is max eligible after next season.

[Tha Cynic]

Strategy-wise they’ve both experimented and are even. 3 point variance next game will be the deciding factor. OKC better hope it isn’t one of those nights where Indiana hits contested shots at a high clip. I think Indiana is the drivers seat here. There’s nothing OKC can do to stop them if it’s one of those nights for Indiana other than pray that their supporting cast can keep up.

SGA plays so much like Kobe Bryant

[OakleyDokely]

Last game 7 in the NBA finals was 2016 -- CLE vs GS -- and that was a classic.

The last 3 game 6 winners have gone on to win game 7.

[WaltFrazier]

Chet's not going anywhere. A team like this as young as it is...all they need is to keep developing and they'll be back and even better next season. Chet is in his second season. No reason to believe he won't continue to develop and he'll be better next season. The Thunder are the last team that needs to chase Giannis or KD.

Chet's ceiling is nowhere close to Giannis' current level. And OKC's window is not so long that they can wait for Chet to improve to ceiling. This is about as perfect a trade to go for a 2-year championship window (after this Finals) as any contender can get.

Giannis' projected ceiling was nowhere what it actually is now. Chet has a pretty high ceiling as is.
OKC's current window is longer than 2 years with Giannis.

Chet and Dub are less than 25 years of age.

People here are way too impatient.

I agree that OKC is still young and improving and probably keep Chet. But he has looked so bad in large stretches of the series, he doesn't look like a player to build around anyway. I mean, he still has a high ceiling but place him in Bucks roster in place of Giannis and he can't carry a team like that.

[WaltFrazier]

Chet's ceiling is nowhere close to Giannis' current level. And OKC's window is not so long that they can wait for Chet to improve to ceiling. This is about as perfect a trade to go for a 2-year championship window (after this Finals) as any contender can get.

Giannis' projected ceiling was nowhere what it actually is now. Chet has a pretty high ceiling as is.
OKC's current window is longer than 2 years with Giannis.

Chet and Dub are less than 25 years of age.

People here are way too impatient.

Just because Giannis exceeded his projected ceiling doesn't mean Chet will reach the same ceiling as Giannis.

OKC already has 2 All-NBA level starters in SGA and JDub. Add Giannis will absolutely fix all of its current needs like rebounding and 2nd/3rd scorer. A trio of SGA, JDB and Giannis for 2-3 years very good already.

Moreoever Giannis on-court production exceeds his salary, whereas Chet will demand a max but not certain to produce equivalent on-court. Also OKC doesn't have enough roster spots for the war-chest of FRPs Presti can trade away for Giannis.

Giannis is a perfect opportunity to consolidate into a higher ceiling core for OKC.

Giannis would fix a lot for OKC as you say. But what about his fit with Hartenstein? Giannis seems to thrive with a stretch C like Lopez, because he doesn't provide spacing himself. They would have to make other moves to rebalance the spacing.

[Pointgod]

OKC will trade Chet + picks for Giannis regardless of this Finals outcome

Smartest thing to do

Maybe - but I don't see a team winning a championship then shipping out key cogs.

Also don't think Giannis wants to go to a team where it’s a cakewalk. He isn't KD

By all measures teams should be making additive trades after winning a championship. We haven’t seen a team go to back to back finals in since Golden State in 2018/2019. The CBA isn’t setup to facilitate this and teams that stay put often don’t end up repeating because every team is trying to gear up to specifically beat you.

Oklahoma is in a unique situation where they can trade for Giannis sending out mainly picks and some player value while maintaining their depth. Top 3 players are never available and Giannis is a top 25/top 30 player of all time who’s still in his prime.

Giannis wants to win and I dont think he really cares about how he does it. He’s already won a championship with him as the clear cut best player.

[Spates]

Watching Siakam ball out all playoffs just confirms what we all already knew. Masai is absolutely cooked. He's a great drafter but that's about it, absolutely terrible at team building. We wasted all these years with FVV, OG, Siakam all on bargain contracts with Scottie on a rookie scale and Masai couldn't put a competent team/bench around them.

We withered away their prime years with no center as he wanked off to his 6'9 vision. No centers to speak of for nearly half a decade before it went off the rails.

I'm ready for Masai to go.

They needed a table setter. That was the biggest issue. The struggle ball era looked as it did because the half-court offense was garbage.

Also, they went 2.5 seasons without a real center, and one of those was the Tampa season. And as a matter of fact in their best season, 2021/2022, Precious was the starting center.

That first point sounds like a PG problem. Back then, I really wanted us to trade Fred to fill the position with one of Brogdon (pre-injury) or TJ as the PG until we find a 1st or 2nd option for Siakam. Masai and Bobby failed but Nurse and Fred really set this team back for years post championship.

Very much so, although I'm trying to sidestep traditional positions because inevitably someone will chime in saying "FVV is a good pg!"—even though that was never the real issue.

Anyways, yeah, for years Pascal has been one of the best in the NBA at exploiting an advantage, we just didn't have the guys to create them. Committing to FVV and then Barnes as floor generals was the mistake. But it's not like guys in the mould of Haliburton and Lowry are a dime a dozen

[Dr Positivity]

SGA being 30ppg and their main playmaker makes OKC a bit stagnant while Indy has team vibes, and the defensive advantage for OKC has been nullified a bit by how Nembhard is perfect for SGA, and some guys didn't show up to the finals like Cason and Chet, making it easier to play off them. Mark D is worse than Carlisle and never found that series changing adjustment like the worse JWill or Joe becoming rotation guys halfway through the series.

[PushDaRock]

If OKC loses, it will probably be easy to point the finger at Chet. They haven't had good enough secondary scoring and Chet is averaging 11.3 ppg on 44.5 TS%. That's nowhere near good enough for a guy you're going to give a max extension to.

[tsherkin]

If OKC loses, it will probably be easy to point the finger at Chet. They haven't had good enough secondary scoring and Chet is averaging 11.3 ppg on 44.5 TS%. That's nowhere near good enough for a guy you're going to give a max extension to.

He's certainly a starting point.

Shai, JDub and Wallace all shooting under 30% from 3 isn't helping. Shai averaging over 3.8 tpg isn't helping (like the 8 he had in Game 6).

Chet's only 4 ppg under his RS average, though the efficiency has been dreadful. Dort, Hartenstein, Wiggins and Joe are all also underperforming.

I dunno that looking TOO long at Chet is really the answer, because he was never really a volume guy for them.

J Dub is another one. People are still heated over his 40-point performance, but he's been pretty bad in half of these games from a scoring perspective as well. This series would probably be over if he hadn't blown chunks in the opener, for example, though obviously he's not a primary issue for the Thunder overall.

[PushDaRock]

If OKC loses, it will probably be easy to point the finger at Chet. They haven't had good enough secondary scoring and Chet is averaging 11.3 ppg on 44.5 TS%. That's nowhere near good enough for a guy you're going to give a max extension to.

He's certainly a starting point.

Shai, JDub and Wallace all shooting under 30% from 3 isn't helping. Shai averaging over 3.8 tpg isn't helping (like the 8 he had in Game 6).

Chet's only 4 ppg under his RS average, though the efficiency has been dreadful. Dort, Hartenstein, Wiggins and Joe are all also underperforming.

I dunno that looking TOO long at Chet is really the answer, because he was never really a volume guy for them.

J Dub is another one. People are still heated over his 40-point performance, but he's been pretty bad in half of these games from a scoring perspective as well. This series would probably be over if he hadn't blown chunks in the opener, for example, though obviously he's not a primary issue for the Thunder overall.

If they don't get it done, obviously everyone will take some part in the blame.

Dort and Hartenstein are shooting 67 TS% and 65 TS%. They're low USG guys, hard to really put the blame on them for scoring less when the looks they get are highly dependent on everyone else.

I don't really agree with him not being a volume scorer. He's their clear 3rd option. He averaged 15 ppg but that's mainly because his mins have been limited. His PER36 scoring is right around 20 ppg and that's while playing with volume scorers like SGA and JDub. When he's out on the floor, he is relied upon to score even if it's not on Superstar level volume. In the finals, Chet is averaging 4 less ppg while playing 3 extra mpg to go along with the atrocious efficiency. To add to that, he's also 2-17 from three and killing their spacing by not being able to hit shots from outside. He's the one performing far below expectations compared to everyone else.

[tsherkin]

If they don't get it done, obviously everyone will take some part in the blame.

Of course.

Dort and Hartenstein are shooting 67 TS% and 65 TS%. They're low USG guys, hard to really put the blame on them for scoring less when the looks they get are highly dependent on everyone else.

"Blame" is a big word with them, for sure. I just meant their contributing less volume, and we were speaking specifically about that. We're talking a couple points per game each, tops, of course.

I don't really agree with him not being a volume scorer. He's their clear 3rd option. He averaged 15 ppg but that's mainly because his mins have been limited. His PER36 scoring is right around 20 ppg and that's while playing with volume scorers like SGA and JDub.

Sure, on 14 FGA36. Dude isn't spamming tons of shots. He's assisted on all of his 3s and like 2/3s of his shots inside the arc. He's not, generally speaking, a creator or a guy you lean on to elevate his volume (yet?).

He's been bad, that isn't in doubt but like, he's also not what's really killing them.

[PushDaRock]

If they don't get it done, obviously everyone will take some part in the blame.

Of course.

Dort and Hartenstein are shooting 67 TS% and 65 TS%. They're low USG guys, hard to really put the blame on them for scoring less when the looks they get are highly dependent on everyone else.

"Blame" is a big word with them, for sure. I just meant their contributing less volume, and we were speaking specifically about that. We're talking a couple points per game each, tops, of course.

I don't really agree with him not being a volume scorer. He's their clear 3rd option. He averaged 15 ppg but that's mainly because his mins have been limited. His PER36 scoring is right around 20 ppg and that's while playing with volume scorers like SGA and JDub.

Sure, on 14 FGA36. Dude isn't spamming tons of shots. He's assisted on all of his 3s and like 2/3s of his shots inside the arc. He's not, generally speaking, a creator or a guy you lean on to elevate his volume (yet?).

He's been bad, that isn't in doubt but like, he's also not what's really killing them.

Who deserves more singular blame than him then if you don't think he's killing them?

[tsherkin]

Who deserves more singular blame than him then if you don't think he's killing them?

Shai, I would say.

[PushDaRock]

Who deserves more singular blame than him then if you don't think he's killing them?

Shai, I would say.

Someone putting up 30.5 ppg on 58.5 TS% deserving the most blame seems a bit strange to me, but you're entitled to your own opinion.

[tsherkin]

Who deserves more singular blame than him then if you don't think he's killing them?

Shai, I would say.

Someone putting up 30.5 ppg on 58.5 TS% deserving the most blame seems a bit strange to me, but you're entitled to your own opinion.

I mean, I'd say his turnover issues and playing that far beneath his regular season self are why the Thunder are struggling to deal with a tertiary, low/mid volume player having issues offensively. He shoulders a larger proportion of the responsibility.

I can certainly see an argument for how one would frame it as Chet, but OKC's offensive dominance does typically start with Shai, and he's something like -5% relative to his RS self, which is a much larger issue with their overall offense than what Chet is or isn't doing.

[PushDaRock]

Shai, I would say.

Someone putting up 30.5 ppg on 58.5 TS% deserving the most blame seems a bit strange to me, but you're entitled to your own opinion.

I mean, I'd say his turnover issues and playing that far beneath his regular season self are why the Thunder are struggling to deal with a tertiary, low/mid volume player having issues offensively. He shoulders a larger proportion of the responsibility.

I can certainly see an argument for how one would frame it as Chet, but OKC's offensive dominance does typically start with Shai, and he's something like -5% relative to his RS self, which is a much larger issue with their overall offense than what Chet is or isn't doing.

Chet is 60 TS% in the regular season dropping down to 44 TS% right now in the finals, personally I think a 16 TS% drop is more significant than 5 TS% drop off regardless of the volume difference. Chet not getting it done is also making life very difficult for SGA and JDub allowing the Pacers to key in on them even more.

In the OKC series, Jokic was only a 59.2 TS% down from 66.3 TS% in the regular season and turned it over a ton, so I guess you blame him mostly for them losing as well then?