As the Oklahoma City Thunder search for reinforcements with Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace expected to potentially miss the remainder of the 2026-27 NBA regular season, two members of the New Orleans Pelicans could emerge as trade targets for Sam Presti.

Per ESPN's Tim MacMahon, multiple league executives cited Trey Murphy III or Herb Jones as potential trade targets for the Thunder.

One potential issue, as MacMahon pointed out, is New Orleans has sought "multiple first-round picks" for Murphy in the past and Presti is not one to trade part with those kinds of assets.

"That's not who they are," one Eastern Conference executive told MacMahon about the idea of Oklahoma City potentially trading first-round picks. "I think they'd rather play their young guys and see what they have."

In the same ESPN report, Brian Windhorst quoted a Western Conference executive who thinks Jones could be difficult to trade because of the three-year, $67.6 million extension New Orleans gave him in July 2025 that kicks in next season.

"That is a negative value contract to us," the exec said. "[New Orleans] would have some trouble trading him for anything close to what they'd asked for him in the past."

One under-the-radar trade option that could emerge for the Thunder is Sacramento Kings guard Nique Clifford, per MacMahon.

Coincidentally, Clifford was originally drafted by Oklahoma City with the No. 24 pick in 2025. He was flipped to the Kings for a 2027 protected first-round pick that originally belonged to the San Antonio Spurs.

After averaging 25.1 minutes per game in 78 appearances as a rookie last season, Clifford has not been a factor in the Kings' rotation through their first five games this season. He has played a total of 28 minutes in four appearances.

Both Williams (fractured fibula, dislocated ankle) and Wallace (torn labrum) required surgery for injuries suffered in a win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Oct. 25. The Thunder stopped short of officially ruling them out for the season, but they are going to be out indefinitely.

Oklahoma City have eight first-round picks between 2027 to '33 that could be used to build a trade.

Presti hasn't made a trade giving up multiple first-round picks since June 2022 when he acquired the No. 11 overall pick in that draft (used to select Ousmane Dieng) from the New York Knicks for a package that included three protected picks in the 2023 draft.

Another problem for the Thunder when it comes to acquiring a player like either Murphy or Jones is financial in nature. They traded away Isaiah Joe, Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins over the summer in part to stay below the second apron this season.

With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's extension kicking in next season, raising his salary to a projected $61 million, the Thunder are already set to be almost $26 million over the projected second apron in 2027-28. Murphy is owed $29 million next season.

The Thunder staying out of the second apron this year does allow Presti some flexibility with trades, but it would seem unlikely anything happens soon as they look to see how their current talent pool plays without Williams and Wallace.