Wilson Chandler (Photo : Twitter)
The NBA trade rumors have playoff teams vying to fill out the holes in their roster to take the next step and become contenders.
One of the hungriest teams who want to achieve that goal is the Oklahoma City Thunder. They were once at the top three of a ridiculously competitive Western Conference last season, and now they took a few steps back with the departure of Kevin Durant.
Still, the Thunder is surviving better than most had expected, courtesy of a phenomenal season by Russell Westbrook. It would be a shame if they put that to waste. Oklahoma still has young and talented roster. Thanks to GM Sam Presti's summer trade, they managed to fill out their shooting guard hole with Victor Oladipo and managed to get a promising Domantas Sabonis to fill out the void left by Serge Ibaka.
The hole that Presti failed to fill is the one he did not expect to have. Durant is probably the second best small forward in the league (as the best player in the world has the top spot) and he has huge shoes to fill.
Rudy Gay seemed like a rational replacement but he fell to injury before a trade was pursued (and Presti dodged another bullet in the process). There were rumors of interest in Carmelo Anthony who is unlikely to leave the Big Apple for Oklahoma.
Presti's luck has yet to run out as another option may have arisen. As reported by Sam Amick of USA Today, Wilson Chandler of the Denver Nuggets wants a trade. "According to two people with knowledge of Chandler's situation, the player who came to Denver as part of the Carmelo Anthony deal six years ago wants to be traded," Amick reported.
He would be a good fit for the Thunder, and that's why it was predicted that he could be a trade target by Jon Hamm of Bleacher Report. "Chandler would be a welcome veteran addition to a young Thunder squad. While they would miss Roberson's stifling, versatile defense, Chandler opens up the court on offense. He's also under contract through 2018-19 at a team-friendly $24.8 million over the next two seasons."
Sending out Andre Roberson, the Thunder's defensive stopper and the underachieving Cameron Payne may be pricey, but Chandler gives them a legitimate scorer that could buy more space for Westbrook to wreak havoc.
Presti is not one to back out of an opportunity so if Chandler is indeed available, this is a very likely trade.
