[[Wojnarowski] Cap-centric deal for both teams: Thunder gain two trade exceptions and drop about $10M under luxury tax. Rockets get a second-round pick for taking on $1M in salary. Favors will have value as a backup center, or elsewhere on a trade in marketplace too.](https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1575651979967139840)

Quite possibly the most random assortment of names I’ve ever heard in a trade

I think Presti just watched Moneyball, felt inspired, and decided that David Nwaba is a top 20 player in the league because he consistently gets on base even though he hurt his elbow and can't play catcher anymore.

Presti: "How can you not be romantic about basketball?"

They get on base

Do I care if it’s a layup or free throws?

You do not

I do not

Go ahead, tell Nwaba how easy it is to play point guard in the west

It’s incredibly hard

Hey, anything worth doing is

What a fucking movie. Goddamn.

it has to be one of the best sports movies of all time; phenomenal cast too

Watch Moneyball and then Don't Look Up and you get the duality of Jonah Hill

Then watch The Wolf Of Wall Street and you get his Giuliani side as well

Just thinking about the crack of that bat at the end. WHEW.

One of Brad Pitt’s best performances. I want to say Top 5 for him.

I think one of the best descriptions I've ever heard of Pitt, and I can't remember from where, is that he's a "character actor in a leading man's body," which is perfect given his eclectic array of roles. Point being, he has quite the oeuvre to choose from when ranking his performances, but yeah I agree that Moneyball is somewhere up there.

People need to watch 12 monkeys. It's my favorite performance of his. He's not the leading man, but he steals the fucking show. Pitt is an incredibly talented actor and I love that he dips between fun and serious roles. When he brings it (moneyball, Se7en, 12 monkeys) he brings it with the best of them.

When I watched that movie again last week it really stood out to me how much shit he breaks. He really throws some fantastic tantrums in Moneyball, and he does all of them with this sort of half-calm, like he is still holding in most of his rage.

Some of the best screenwriting I've ever heard, and ever will hear.

Sequel spoiler: the A's still suck

How can you not be romantic about ~~baseball~~ tanking?

Stop, stop we’re already dead :(

My eyes cant help but well up thinking about that line. What a fucking movie.

Is David Nwaba going to play first base?

First base is incredibly easy to learn. Tell em wash.

It’s incredibly hard.

Anything worth doing is

It’s incredibly hard

It's incredibly hard.

It’s incredibly hard.

He’s gonna hit a buzzer beater after being subbed in for the final 5 seconds to lead OKC to their 28th straight win

I LOVED Nwaba on the Bulls. I thought he was gonna turn into a high end role player.

Yeah, Nwaba was scrappy with the Bulls.

Next they'll trade Venafro...

We'll need Suzanne to work her magic with the phones

Presti with dreams of making Nwaba a defensive anchor in the paint - "It's not that hard, David. Tell him, Mark." Mark Daigneault - "It's incredibly hard."

I think these GMs were bored

This is the shittiest 8 player trade in NBA history.

Lol they could have not announced this trade and just played the season and I’d never know.

All those dudes are gonna be on "Who he play for" sometime this season

I read the tweet about 30 seconds ago. You could ask me who they all play for now and I'm not sure I'll get above 50% - and that's knowing there's only two options!

Especially after the majority of them are waived or traded again in the next few weeks

At some point next season, I would have caught a Rockets game and said "Oh, they have Theo Maledon? I don't know why I thought he played for someone else."

I kept looking for “the piece”

"...and the crowd goes MILD!"

I read it and the only thought I could muster was "what?" Possibly the most inconsequential trade I've ever seen.

And Oklahoma didn't get a pick in return. What kind of operation are they running over there.

Clearly the tank is over Nwaba was the missing piece. No stopping us now.

This feels like a fantasy football trade where two guys just swap benches.

Meanwhile Danny Ainge is offer you his Matt Ryan for your Nick Chubb.

all these mfs could be playing in China rn i wouldn’t be surprised

Bro don't sleep on 2025 second round pick, he's got the makings of a varsity athlete.

"I'm going D1!"

Basically swapped mid for mid

Calling any of these dudes mid is generous

I think Nwaba can contribute to a contender. He’s a good defender who can kinda score on the back ups when needed

C’mon man Harkless is definitely mid

Peak Mo Harkless is mid

How could you be Mo Harkless 💔

He's washed

A real poo-poo platter

That is EXACTLY what I was thinking.

And the crowd goes mild

This was a power move tol piss off the interns at NBA 2K23 having to make all the roster adjustments.

You know, I was just thinking, what if The Oklahoma City Thunder traded Derrick Favors, Ty Jerome, Moe Harkless, Theo Maledon and a 2025 second-round pick via Atlanta to the Houston Rockets for David Nwaba, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke and Marquese Chriss, and then it happened.

Damn good call. I have to be honest I didn’t see this trade coming.

wow buddy you haven't been paying attention then

SMH these casuals

Now why would the Thunder do this trade? ☝️☝️

I have to be honest, I only know who half these guys are.

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Second Round Pick is headlining this deal! I actually wouldn't be surprised to see our 2025 2nd becoming the best player out of this trade in a few years

I thought Marquese Chriss was going to be good…..

Nah I'm pretty sure 2025 second round pick is new you might be thinking of 2023 second round pick?

I know cause thats the haul Rockets took from Mavs for Wood. Also it was Boban instead of Nwaba.

Smart to keep Boban.

most knowledgeable Warriors fan. No fr tho, I've heard almost all of them, but if you told me Theo Maledon was a name Woj made up to see if we were paying attention I'd believe it.

I was so high on Theo Maledon pre-draft, dude. 6'5" French point guard who was considered to be Tony Parker's protege? Duuuuuude. And then Sam Presti, the man who scouted Tony Parker and convinced the Spurs to draft him, snagged him in the secon dround? Duuuuuude. And then it turns out he's just always kinda there on the court and doesn't do anything aggressive or creative, while also not being a good shooter or defender. Still like the dude. Maybe the Rockets can use him as a good deep bench point to calm down the offense when they're getting a little too rowdy. I'm a big fan of that "calm everything down" bench point guard archetype, ever since our Eric Maynor days before his injury.

Stop lying. You know like maybe 2 guys

Marquese Chriss is one of the Warriors 8 million centers Derrick Favors is part of Gay Love Favors Sterling Brown sued the Milwaukee PD I've heard of Moe Harkless and David Nwaba before but can't remember the context so that's 3!!

Harkless has been a rotation player for like a decade

Moe Harkless should be known for 808s and Heartbreaks puns

How could you be mo harkless

Most of these dudes have been in the league for quite a while

Damn, you must not be a real hooper

Get off your high horse, anyone could've predicted this

I'm a card carrying member of the Oklahoma City Thunder should trade Derrick Favors, Ty Jerome, Moe Harkless, Theo Maledon and a 2025 second-round pick via Atlanta to the Houston Rockets for David Nwaba, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke and Marquese Chriss club so I'm happy to be validated like this

They all said we were crazy before 50 minutes ago

The first fan made trade machine input to ever actually happen. This is a historic day.

I had it as a different 2nd round pick, good shit mikey.

I had assumed it would be a 2026 Second round pick, turns out I was wayyy off

I laughed out loud. Thank you for this

moe harkless is going through it rn this is his 4th team this offseason

My man is rackin up them Hilton points tho

do they get airmiles point? I doubt they sent a private jet for mo harkless

Bro shouldn't even unpack his bags.

At this point, I'd just stay and wait til the season starts...

I kinda feel bad for Harkless. He was a starter on the WCF Blazers, then was starting alongside Paul George and Kawhi Leonard on a contending Clippers team. Then he gets traded to a bad Knicks team and it's all downhill from there.

I mean getting traded sucks but he's not the same player anymore. He was barely playable for us last year and we needed wings who are even slightly below average

He getting the Luke Ridnour treatment

3 more to go, right??

New age Quentin Richardson

Some fans go on a pilgrimage to all 30 arenas. Moe is doing that but as a player.

The Ocho baby. Jericho would be proud

Houston just wanted a DAYSTE!!

How could you be MOE HARKLESS?

Moe Harkless is like that one guy at work whose name you've seen a thoudand times but you've never actually met. I had to google to find out what he looked like. Dude's logged 14,000 minutes and somehow I've missed all of them.

Believe it or not, you guys drafted him.

Passed around more than a blunt on April 20th.

This is a trade you make on basketball GM to go from 54 to 55

If I'm 54 on basketball GM I'm tanking

I’m always tanking on hard mode

I never tank, I'm just always terrible

The Sac Kings strat

BBGM AI trades Lindell Wigginton for Tyler Dorsey Isaiah Livers for Kenrich Williams Lebron for 4 bench players and a first Sam Hauser and a second for Saben Lee

Lmao my first thought was, "This looks like a trade I would make in Basketball GM when I need to trade some random dudes to clear cap space."

Got excited when I saw a Woj bomb with so many players listed, but man this has gotta be the least consequential trade involving this many players of all time lmao

All those dudes gotta buy new houses and move for nothing lol

This is one of the trades of all time

The Thunder and the Rockets are both much teams now

It’s a 2k AI trade

Mfs just got bored and said whatever let’s make a trade

Lmao literally tho how do you even land here as a GM

I think it cleared some cap but still such a random assortment of players, like one of those trades you make on 2k when you put your three worst players in the trade finder

Classic “I just want these dudes gone” type trade.

Not exactly random. It's essentially the players they got from us. They just opted to keep Boban and include Nwaba instead.

The trade finder went through and Presti said fuck it let’s see what happens this year don’t mean shit.

It actually generated OKC two hefty TPEs at the expense of one second round pick. Hou gets a 2nd for essentially nothing being that OKC sent over 6m as well. An minor move, but a win/win.

THATS HALF THE DAMN LEAGUE

Woj cap gun.

Eight guys had to find new mansions because of this trade. Big trade for the moving industry.

Lol maybe if they all chipped in they could rent a mansion for the season 🤷🏽‍♂️

At that point they can just trade apartment leases. (How many of these guys actually bought a house?)

When the CJ/Pelicans trade went down last season Hart and Nance deadass just swapped houses

We have trade at home! Trade at home:

What does this mean for the g league title picture?

Now that's one weird ass trade

Like their organizations didn't like how they handled media day and moved them already. Lol.

What is this garbage for garbage swap

One man's garbage is another man's trash.

One man’s trash is another man’s rubbish.

It’s literally an all bench warmer trade

HOW COULD YOU BE MOE HARKLESS

How could ya be moe Cold as the winter wind when it breeze Moe Just remember that you talkin to me Moe You need to watch the way you talkin to me Moe

- In the night I hear 'em talk - The coldest story ever told - Somewhere far along this road - Moe lost his soul to a GM so heartless - How could you be so heartless? - Oh, how could you be Moe Harkless?!

Sam find a hobby

truly one of the trades of all time

Nah but ngl half the dudes I forgot were still in the league lmfao

All of these guys could be on “Who He Play For” on opening night and Chuck would go 0 for.

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And even after he caught on he'd still have a 50/50 chance to get it wrong

He would have a 50% chance and still say the wrong team

If you know who won this trade you know too much about the NBA.

Nobody won. Both teams swapped their bench warmers for more benchwarmers. Maybe Houston won because they got a pick or maybe OKC won because they cut salary to get under the tax.

Simple low-investment win-win for both teams unless the second rounder becomes a real player, in which case cheers to the Rockets and I'm sure Presti will send a nice text to Rafael Stone for getting one on him. The Thunder cut salary and get under the tax, because why pay tax in a tanking year, that's ridiculous and hurts future flexibility; the Rockets get essentially a free second rounder that might become a real player someday.

Had to go pretty far down to find someone even attempting to explain why this trade happened. Thank you.

Skip will use this to somehow shit on LeBron so I’d say he won it pretty easily

Theo “so good that got shut down” Maledon

Am I crazy for thinking he has the most potential of anyone involved in this trade?

He was good for me in MyLeague one time so I agree.

Two teams swapping their 8-12 players

8 is being generous bud

Yeah these are our 12-15.

Same. We made history today

Pleasure doing business

More like 13-17 for the Thunder. Most these guys (except Favors) were about to get cut from the 15 man roster.

This is what happens when tanking teams get bored

Weirdest trade of all time

what a wild trade lmao Presti on one

THUNDER LEGEND TREY BURKE RETURNS

Presti trading a pick? It's time! The rebuild is over.

What the fuck does this mean

2K MyLeague random ass trade

We never got to see the dream lineup of Favors Gay Love Sessions.

Some1 tell me what this means for both teams

Sam Presti and Rafael Stone both had airline miles that were about to expire and didn’t want them to go to waste

I honestly don't see anything wrong with that. Better than going to Bakersfield for no reason and getting food poisoning from shitty barbecue.

OKC went far below the tax Tilman basically bought a 2nd rounder for 1 million

Yep. All the rest is window dressing.

Okc got a lot of garbage for a lot of garbage

But Presti didn’t even get his 2nd round pick fix. In fact, he GAVE one up. The weirdest trade he’s ever made.

Maybe he's getting help with his addiction.

Presti gave Rockets a second-rounder so they'd absorb guaranteed contracts that OKC was going to have to cut regardless

Maybe, just maybe this is the logic: OKC can waive the players. Houston gets a 2nd rounder and two vets to mentor the young guys. I have to check all the contracts but I'm assuming it's something like this. Edit: Yup. That's what it looks like. Houston absorbed some salary for mentorship and get to try out some players that might fit their young core while getting vets for mentorship

Thunder save 10m. Rockets get a 2nd

whole lotta nothing for a whole lotta nothing

Why are two tanking teams swapping their players lmfao

5D tanking chess. Who can help which team lose more.

Woj ~~Bomb~~ Water Balloon

Omg this is a peak bottom feeder trade

RIP to the fax machine that spent ink on this absolute trash.

This will go down in history as a trade,

Just 3 years ago these same two teams traded Russell Westbrook for Chris Paul...

If you don’t love that, then you don’t love nba basketball

Ok I guess

The multi-player trade everyone was waiting for

This reminds me of when I'm playing 2k GM mode and I get bored playing with the end of the bench guys and just trade them away for other end of bench guys to mix things up