The Oklahoma City Thunder will enter this year’s offseason as one of the more intriguing teams. Fresh off a first-seed and second-round finish, OKC enters the summer with $35 million in cap space and deep pockets with draft assets.
This makes the Thunder a contender to make a massive move to upgrade their roster. A championship window was shattered open last season with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren.
One possibility is Chicago Bulls forward Patrick Williams, who will be a restricted free agent this summer. The Thunder have an interest in the 22-year-old, per The Athletic. OKC can either sign him to an offer sheet and hope Chicago doesn’t match or complete a sign-and-trade.
“If the Bulls have seen enough of the Williams experiment, one team that has great interest, a league source said, is Oklahoma City. The Thunder need more size, and they have an army of draft picks that can sweeten the pot for the Bulls if a sign-and-trade emerges in July.”
Williams would be an interesting long-term fit for the Thunder. Depending on who they give up in a sign-and-trade, he could slide right in with the rest of the starters as the power forward.
Injuries have plagued Williams — missing the better parts of two of his four seasons — but he’s been solid when healthy. He averaged 10 points on 44.3% shooting, 3.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists last season. He shot 39.9% from 3 on 3.4 attempts.
It’ll remain to be seen how genuine the interest is. This could be a ploy by Williams’ camp to extract a larger contract from the Bulls as a classic negotiation tactic. But if the interest goes both ways, OKC could grab its starting four in an unconventional route it never takes.
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