And just like that, Danny Green’s tenure with the Oklahoma City Thunder has come to an end, technically, before it even started.
On Sunday, news circulated that the Thunder would be trading Dennis Schroder to the Los Angeles Lakers for Green, as well as the rights to the player that the Lakers select with the 28th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
Nonetheless, on Wednesday — hours before the 2020 NBA Draft — ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Thunder and Sixers agreed to a trade that will see Green sent to Philadelphia in exchange for Al Horford.
Because of a technicality, the Lakers and Thunder cannot officially consummate the Schroder-Green trade until after the draft, but that hasn’t stopped Presti from determining how to flip Green into some additional draft capital.
According to Wojnarowski, as apart of the trade, the Thunder will also send Terrance Ferguson to Philadelphia and will receive Horford, as well as a “lightly-protected” first-round draft pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey, the pick is protected from 1-6.
The Thunder will also receive the 34th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, as well as the draft rights to Serbian point guard Vasilije Micic.
As a result of the trade, the Thunder will own three picks in the top 34 of the 2020 draft.
The Sixers are trading Al Horford and a first-round and second-round pick to the Thunder for Danny Green, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 18, 2020
For the Sixers, the deal would appear to be the admission of a mistake, as the perception is that Philadelphia paid a heavy tax merely to offload Horford, who the club signed to a four-year, $109 million deal just last summer. It apparently took all of just one season for the club to conclusively determine that Horford didn’t fit with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid.
For the Thunder, the deal will add to general manager Sam Presti’s war chest of draft picks. After a mesmerizing flurry of trades that saw, among other things, franchise mainstay Russell Westbrook dealt to the Houston Rockets, the Thunder now stand to have 17 first-round picks through the 2026 NBA Draft.
In all likelihood, the club has not yet finished, either.