NBA rumors: Injury-plagued Thunder eyeing player 'they've already had,' and one surging star makes most sense

There are future Hall of Famers and All-Stars who once donned the OKC uniform, but would it make sense to bring them in? Last season, a total of 11 players gave the Oklahoma City Thunder at least 900 minutes of service. Three of those players now play for other teams: Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe. Two of them, Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace, have already suffered injuries that may end their seasons. Another, Alex Caruso, has a sprained ankle. For Wednesday's game against the Dallas Mavericks, Chet Holmgren is also out with right knee patellar tendinitis and Ajay Mitchell is questionable with a right ankle sprain. In other words, most of Oklahoma City's core rotation from a year ago, aside from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, is not available right now.

Inevitably, that has sparked quite a bit of speculation. The Thunder are as asset-rich as any team in the NBA. They have the picks to go trade for a difference-maker and a roster spot to add a free agent. The question here is who, and on Wednesday, ESPN's Brian Windhorst stirred the pot with an intentionally cryptic rumor. "And this is one thing that I've talked to executives about, and I don't mean to be cryptic, but I'm being cryptic," he said on his Hoop Collective podcast. "If you're going