{"id":654899,"date":"2026-05-20T18:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T18:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/654899\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T18:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T18:29:09","slug":"thunder-bucks-trade-pitch-sends-175-million-two-time-mvp-10-time-all-star-to-oklahoma-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/654899\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunder-Bucks trade pitch sends $175 million two-time MVP, 10-time All-Star to Oklahoma City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thunder-Bucks trade pitch sends $175 million two-time MVP, 10-time All-Star to Oklahoma City<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> began the Western Conference Finals on a sour note, losing a heartbreaker to the Victor Wembanyama-led San Antonio Spurs<\/a> at the Paycom Center on Monday night.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

In a game that took two overtimes to decide, San Antonio<\/a> won the execution battle in crunch time and walked away with a 122-115 win. While the series is far from over, ESPN\u2019s Stephen A. Smith believes that if Oklahoma City fails to turn things around, they should swing <\/a>a blockbuster trade for a Milwaukee Bucks<\/a> two-time MVP and 10-time All-Star.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the event that Oklahoma City gets knocked off this postseason, primarily because of Chet Holmgren<\/a>, who is due for a huge raise \u2013 he\u2019s making $13 million now, and his new salary kicks in at $41 million next season,\u201d Smith said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat if I told you Oklahoma City would be willing to move Holmgren and one of those young guys \u2013 whether it\u2019s Ajay Mitchell<\/a>, Cason Wallace<\/a>, Isaiah Joe<\/a>, or someone else?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anybody can afford to give up rotation players, it\u2019s Oklahoma City. Add in two first-round picks and two second-round picks for Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> \u2013 what would you say to that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

How many opponents would have a realistic shot of containing an Antetokounmpo-Shai Gilgeous-Alexander duo regularly? Antetokounmpo\u2019s freight train-like slashing ability\/effortless finishing combined with Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s mid-range shooting brilliance and clutch late-game playmaking would make for a near-unstoppable tandem in Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n

As talented as Holmgren is, he\u2019s yet to add the muscle necessary to be a defensive bruiser in the low post and become a more effective finisher around the rim. Antetokounmpo doesn\u2019t share the same issue, making him a clear upgrade in every way imaginable.<\/p>\n

Would the Bucks and Thunder be able to reach an agreement that benefits both organizations? The answer to that question is unknown, but there\u2019s no question that a Holmgren-Antetokounmpo offseason swap is a solid concept.<\/p>\n

More NBA news:<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thunder-Bucks trade pitch sends $175 million two-time MVP, 10-time All-Star to Oklahoma City originally appeared on The Sporting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[56233,56260,16733,359,69879,360,355,12205,6999,2116,99,3692,69310],"class_list":["post-654899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ajay-mitchell","tag-cason-wallace","tag-chet-holmgren","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-isaiah-joe","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-nba","tag-oklahoma-city","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-sports","tag-stephen-a-smith","tag-western-conference-finals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}