The NBA trade deadline is a time for teams to gauge the progression of their season and make decisions on the rest of the year. For several teams, this means going out and adding a good player to push them to the top of the playoff picture.
In the Western Conference, two of those teams could be the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Clippers. According to The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski, both squads could be buyers ahead of Thursday’s deadline and are both eyeing Wilson Chandler as a target (2:47 mark of video below):
The prospects of Boston & Chicago reengaging on a Jimmy Butler deal this week. Trade deadline preview w/ @WojVerticalNBA and @ChrisMannixYS. pic.twitter.com/SeEyG2Lj94
— The Vertical (@TheVertical) February 19, 2017
Transcription:
“Two teams in the West, the Clippers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, and watch both of those teams with Denver’s Wilson Chandler. Oklahoma City had been very much in pursuit of Rudy Gay before his season-ending injury. They’d love to get a four-man, a versatile forward, as would the Clippers. Both teams think that kind of a player maybe gets them over the hump in a first round series. But do either of those teams have enough […] that they’re willing to move to Denver to get a veteran in Chandler?”
This is certainly intriguing. Chandler is a veteran player who has been in playoff situations with Denver. He has had a quietly phenomenal season for the Nuggets after missing all of last year. The forward is averaging 15.6 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, mostly playing off the bench.
Chandler is solid in all facets of the game and would be a great extra piece for both Oklahoma City and LA as he could be used as a small or power forward. The question, as Woj alluded to, is whether either team has enough to give up for him, especially as neither have many picks to trade moving forward.
Nevertheless, Wilson Chandler is a player to keep an eye on moving forward as a playoff caliber team could really use him. But the Nuggets will want a lot, considering they’ve said they are not shopping him.
