The Oklahoma City Thunder continue to wheel and deal this offseason, as they completed another trade on Saturday.
The Thunder acquired TyTy Washington, Usman Garuba, Rudy Gay and a second-round pick from the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Patty Mills, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The trade saves the Hawks $4.5 million. Mills owns an expiring salary of $6.8 million.
This ends Mills’ short tenure with the Thunder after he was acquired from the Houston Rockets in a multi-team trade that also landed OKC three second-round picks.
Washington and Garuba also get shipped out of the Hawks after a brief stay when both were packaged in a trade from the Rockets to shed salary. Washington is a 2022 first-round pick and Garuba is a 2021 first-round pick, so both are still on their standard four-year rookie deals.
According to Wojnarowski, both Washington and Garuba have multiple teams interested in them as potential young projects. With the Thunder’s roster already stacked with young talent, perhaps they could acquire additional draft picks for both young players.
The Thunder currently own 35 draft picks over the next seven years.
Meanwhile, Gay was also moved for a second time after he was traded to the Hawks from the Utah Jazz. The 36-year-old picked up his $6.5 million player option for next season.
The Thunder essentially acquired four second-round picks and two young prospects for absorbing Mills’ $6.8 million salary and actually end up saving $0.3 million in Gay’s salary following the trade. A smart usage of cap space for a team that had money to spend.
