Recent trade rumors have emerged that the Oklahoma City Thunder could end up trading big man Mitch McGary before the new season starts in October after the team had acquired French power forward Joffrey Lauvergne in a recent deal with the Denver Nuggets.
The Thunder sent two protected 2017 second-round draft picks to the Nuggets on Tuesday in exchange for the 24-year-old Lauvergne, which increased their frontcourt lineup to seven players at the moment.
With OKC's frontline now quite crowded, especially at the power forward position where five players (Ersan Ilyasova, Nick Collison, Domantas Sabonis, McGary, and Lauvergne) are set to battle for minutes, reports have emerged that head coach Billy Donovan wants to cut down his big man lineup to six players with four rotating during games and the other two acting as reserves.
Sir Charles In Charge reported that the Thunder "will likely be aggressive in moving frontcourt players in order to address the small forward position", where Donovan only has Kyle Singer and Josh Huestis as his options following Kevin Durant's departure.
Of the Thunder's seven big men, the 24-year-old McGary is said to be "the most likely name to be on the move", even though he had shown some promise in his so far two seasons with the club.
The 21st overall pick of the 2014 draft, McGary is "an active body that has shown glimpses of potential". He averaged 6.3 points and 5.2 rebounds playing in only 15.2 minutes per game during his rookie year, but drastically decreased to 1.3 points and 0.9 board last season as he only got 3.6 minutes of playing time per night.
A move to another team might then help McGary to unleash his true potential as Coach Donovan clearly does not see him fit in Oklahoma City's system at this point.
Meanwhile, Fansided noted that among OKC's big men, McGary was the only one who "doesn't have a natural role for the Thunder that fits his skillset" and so a trade could really be looming on the horizon.
The article also cited the numerous "off the court antics" of the former Michigan standout as another reason why the Thunder would want to move him.
It then predicted that McGary and Ilyasova will be traded for a "starting caliber small forward" that would somehow fill-in the deep void Durant had left with the squad.
