From the time he arrived in Oklahoma City, there were more than a few people who thought that Chris Paul’s time with the Thunder would be short-lived.
And despite him leading the Thunder further than anyone else could have imagined, the video he posted to his social media channels did little to put the speculation to rest. It sounded every bit like Paul was thanking the fans of Oklahoma City for a wonderful season while saying goodbye.
At 35 years old, Paul has a lot of miles on his odometer and is still owed $85.5 million for the next two seasons. He doesn’t necessarily seem to fit in with a young, rebuilding club, so Sam Presti has a very interesting dilemma on his hands: Does he continue to ride with Paul and the 2019-20 team to see how far they can go? Or would Presti be wise to proactively trade Paul with the hope of receiving valuable assets in return? It’s unlikely that Paul’s stock would get any higher than it is at this moment.
ESPN’s Royce Young is one of the most respected and plugged-in members of the Oklahoma City media, and he’s been pondering those exact questions.
Young recently appeared with host Brian Windhorst (also of ESPN) on The Hoops Collective podcast and shared his thoughts on the matter. But what was interesting about Young’s take was that he indicated that a Paul trade would likely trigger a full-blown rebuild in Oklahoma City.
According to Young, such a move could also lead to the trades of Dennis Schroder and Steven Adams, as well.
“By all appearances, once the Thunder make the move to move on from Chris Paul, that’s kind of when they’re going to hit the reset button…
“That’s when I think they’ll start tearing down some of the pieces. Schroder will go. Adams might go. And they’ll start to sort of begin their first ever rebuild since they moved to Oklahoma City.”
In all fairness, Young doesn’t claim to have any knowledge as to what the Thunder will decide to do with Paul… But he should be considered a good authority on the team, and it seems that the club could decide to fully pull the plug with the intention of rebuilding around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The offseason has just begun. There is absolutely no rush to determine what Paul’s future holds, but if the team does decide to move him to the highest bidder, it could be the first in a concert of moves.