NBA Trade Idea to Prevent an Oklahoma City Thunder Championship Repeat
Watch out, Oklahoma City Thunder. The hypothetical trade machine is coming for your NBA title defense.
Cobbling together a deal that makes the reigning champs sweat can go one of two ways: Either we move a megastar and hope to create a brand new juggernaut, or we seek to nudge a current threat over the top.
The most recent Giannis Antetokounmpo update has pretty much nuked the first option. That leaves us to strengthen an established contender.
Let's see whether we're up to the challenge.
Full Trade Details
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Denver Nuggets Receive: Justin Champagnie, Ayo Dosunmu
Chicago Bulls Receive: Zeke Nnaji, Peyton Watson, 2026 second-round pick (least favorable of Dallas, Oklahoma City and Philadelphia, via Washington), 2028 first-round swap (top-10 protection, via Denver)
Washington Wizards Receive: 2032 second-round pick (via Denver)
Why the Denver Nuggets Do It
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Denver Nuggets Receive: Justin Champagnie, Ayo Dosunmu
Denver Nuggets Lose: Zeke Nnaji, Peyton Watson, 2028 first-round swap
Though bringing in Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jonas Valančiūnas meaningfully extends the Nuggets' rotation, they still need another reserve playmaker and a wing who can both shoot and defend.
Mission accomplished.
Dosunmu is not a conventional floor general, but he's shown glimmers of improved playmaking coming around ball screens, and he knows how to facilitate when attacking downhill. Payton Pritchard and Tyrese Haliburton were the only players last season to match his scoring efficiency (57.1 percent) and assist rate (12.4) on drives while finishing at least as many of them (371). His ability to guard up on defense will permit Denver to play him beside Jamal Murray.
Champagnie is among the league's most hidden gems. He routinely guards No. 1 or No. 2 options for Washington and just canned almost 42 percent of his spot-up threes.
Punting on Watson's defensive upside is tough, but he's extension eligible, while Champagnie is under team control for three more years and a combined $8 million. The cost of retaining him and re-signing Dosunmu may be less than what Watson gets in his next deal. And it's most certainly less than what the Nuggets would be paying both Watson and Nnaji.
Why the Chicago Bulls Do It
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Chicago Bulls Receive: Zeke Nnaji, Peyton Watson, 2026 second-round pick (least favorable of Dallas, Oklahoma City and Philadelphia, via Washington), 2028 first-round swap
Chicago Bulls Lose: Ayo Dosunmu
Stomaching the three years and $23.2 million remaining on Nnaji's deal is a tall order. However, it's also not the back-busting task many make it out to be. Nnaji tops out at 5.3 percent of the salary cap, and Chicago could have rotation minutes for him to play depending on its plans for the expiring contracts of Zach Collins and Nikola Vučević.
Getting a flier Watson is worth the financial trouble. He could be their perimeter-defensive anchor of the future and more on-ball offense to plumb. Having to pay him next summer adds a wrinkle to the equation, but the Bulls are seeing firsthand with Josh Giddey how restricted free agency favors incumbent teams.
Speaking of Giddey: If the plan is to re-sign him this summer and Coby White next offseason, Dosunmu's days in The Windy City seem numbered. Exchanging him for a higher upside play in Watson and an unprotected swap from a Nuggets team with one of the NBA's most complicated cap sheets is perfectly defensible.
If the Bulls' front office feels otherwise, they can push for Denver's 2030 swap or maybe even Julian Strawther.
Why the Wizards Do It
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Washington Wizards Receive: Denver's 2032 second-round pick
Washington Wizards Lose: Justin Champagnie, 2026 second-round pick (via Dallas, Oklahoma City or Philadelphia)
Champagnie's contract is not one that teams typically set out to trade. But the Wizards have a lot of dudes.
Bilal Coulibaly, Kyshawn George, Cam Whitmore, Khris Middleton and Corey Kispert are all locks to soak up minutes on the wing. Washington also picked up Will Riley (No. 21) and Jamir Watkins (No. 43) and has a flier out on A.J. Johnson.
Minutes for Champagnie will be even harder to come by after factoring in any off-guard minutes for CJ McCollum, Tre Johnson and the lineups that won't feature three wings.
Shorting an unprotected part of Denver's long-term future for someone who may be squeezed out of playing time or, eventually, the rotation altogether is unspectacular-yet-solid business. Especially when it helps take care of the current roster-spot logjam the Wizards have created.
Dan Favale is a National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.
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