The Oklahoma City Thunder will make a trade at the deadline. It’s almost a guarantee with Sam Presti, who has made a deadline move in each of the last three seasons. With the Thunder being “all in” thanks to their offseason moves, there’s no way Presti heads into the postseason with the currently constructed roster.

Your thoughts on Presti likely range from, “He’s one of the smartest and aggressive general managers in the league” to “He traded James Harden.” Both can be true. His trade success rate is not 100 percent, but he’s swindled more than a few teams out of their Samsung Galaxy in exchange for a couple of flip phones.

When it looked like the Thunder had no assets at last years trade deadline, Pesti acquired Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott and a second-round pick for Joffrey Lauvergne, Anthony Morrow, and Cameron Payne. Presti has never been afraid to shake things up and he’s always looking for ways to improve the team.

The Thunder already have Russell Westbrook, Steven Adams, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony. Four All-Star caliber players to go along with arguably the top perimeter defender in the league, Andre Roberson.

They have underachieved this season thanks to poor play against bad teams and a rough start that saw guys struggle to adjust to their new roles. Despite this, they’ve shown the kind of dominant team they can be on both ends of the court. They have blowout wins over the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors. They have a crunch time victory over the Houston Rockets. They dropped 148 points on the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland.

When Sam Presti acquired George and Anthony in the offseason, with not certainty that they would stay past this season, he made it clear that the Thunder will compete for a championship this year. Things have not always been pretty on the court, but the focus and goal has remained the same for Oklahoma City,

The Thunder are currently fifth in the Western Conference, two games behind the third seed San Antonio Spurs. It’s not where many expected them to be, but it’s largely due to the poor start. Since Dec. 17, they are 16-5 and first in offense.

Prior to Jan. 27, the Thunder were in need of a bench scorer and a backup center. That all changed following a game against the Detroit Pistons when Andre Roberson ruptured his patella tendon. A day later, it was announced that he would be out for the season.

The loss of Roberson is more important than most think. He’s their best defender and makes up for any mistakes made by the rest of the starters. He’s not the black hole on defense that he’s made out to be, either. His slashing and screening leads to easy baskets and open shots for George and Anthony.

The Thunder can’t replace Roberson defensively, unless they can acquire 2015 Tony Allen. However, they can acquire someone like Courtney Lee or Avery Bradley to help minimize the loss. Those are the two names to keep an eye on.

A backup center will likely be targeted as well, but a new starting shooting guard has taken precedent.

It’s foolish to try and get into Sam Presti’s head when it comes to targets. No one saw him acquiring Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott last season. In 2015, all signs pointed to the Thunder trading for Brook Lopez. At the last minute, Presti added Enes Kanter.

The guy no one is thinking about is the guy Presti has called about 20 times.

Let’s make one thing clear. Russell Westbrook will not be traded. Teams can call all they want about acquiring the Thunder star, but he’s not going anywhere. The same goes for Paul George.

Alex Abrines is the most likely player to be traded. The 24-year-old sophomore has been in and out of the lineup largely due to his defensive deficiencies. He’s a good shooter and an all-around serviceable offensive player, but can’t stay on the floor when teams score on every possession against him. Given his age and limited NBA playing time, there is hope for Abrines on a team who needs shooting.

Josh Huestis is another name that will likely pop up. The Thunder declined his option earlier this season, meaning he’ll be a free agent at the end of the year. A team might like what they see, trade for him, and sign him to an extension before he hits the open market. He’s a solid three-and-D wing who did this to Joel Embiid earlier in the season.

And can Presti interest anyone in a barely used Kyle Singler? His hair game alone should have teams lining up to acquire him.

Terrance Ferguson is only in play if the return is someone like Lou Williams or Kemba Walker. The Thunder won’t give up on the 19-year-old rookie for a role player.

Remember, this was a team that everyone said had no assets at this time last year. They somehow ended up with Taj Gibson, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony. The Thunder have assets, people just don’t know about them until they are away from Russell Westbrook.