Basketball is not a sport, it's a way of life.
#2 in the LBB team rankings
Oklahoma City is far and away the best situation in the NBA when viewed through a long-term lens. Only the number one overall team has a comparable situation in terms of organizational leadership, coaching, and on-court talent, all being at the very top of the entire league. I am enamored with everything they are doing right now and cannot wait to watch this group continue to blossom.
#2 Oklahoma City Thunder
Record: 57-25 (tied-2nd); 2nd in West; 100.85 Pace (5th); 118.3 Offensive Rating (3rd); 111.0 Defensive Rating (4th); 7.3 Net Rating (2nd)
Total Salary Cap Allocations: $159,241,956 (26th)
Cap Space: $-18,653,956 (5th)
Current Roster: Alex Caruso, Ousmane Dieng, Lugentz Dort, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Isaiah Hartenstein, Ceht Holmgren, Isaiah Joe, Dillon Jones, Malevy Leons, Nikola Topić, Cason Wallace, Aaron Wiggins, Jalen Williams, Jaylin Williams, Kenrich Williams
Single Word Description: Abundant
Biggest Positive: Being Scrooge McDuck Of NBA Assets
The vault of assets that General Manager Sam Presti has accrued would make Smaug jealous. Through a process of prudent trades, founded upon an extremely apt ability to assess potential value for players, the Thunder have gamed the system for the better part of a decade. The deals that OKC made for Al Horford, Chris Paul, and Paul George have been masterstrokes of anticipating the market for player value. OKC has also been more than willing to help facilitate trades, as long as they get a little taste of the action. Presti has managed to make those types of deals without completely tearing down his teams, instead allowing for youthful development to be the continued undercurrent for their organization while acting as a weigh station for veterans. The fact that he was able to do all of this while nailing pick after pick has been an astounding run to watch. As it stands, outside of owning all of their own first-round picks, the Thunder also have all these draft assets:
· Unprotected first-rounder via LA Clippers (2026)
· Top-4 protected via Houston (2026)
· Top-10 protected via Utah (2025, top-8 in 2026)
· Top-14 protected via Miami (2025, unprotected in 2026)
· Top-6 protected via Philadelphia (2025, top-4 protected in 2026 and 2027)
· Top-5 protected via Denver (2027, top-5 protected in 2028)
· Top-5 protected via Denver (2029, if first conveyed in 2027, top-5 protected in 2030 if first conveyed by 2028)
· LA Clippers (2025 and 2027) [Swap rights]
· Houston (2025, top-10 protected) [Swap rights]
· Dallas (2028) [Swap rights]
· Trade-able first-round picks: 10
That Clippers pick swap this coming draft looks particularly spicy in the immediate considering the unfortunate news regarding Kawhi’s indefinite absence to begin the year. Additionally, OKC has their first-round pick from this season, Nikola Topić, just marinating in the organization's savory juices, as he sits out his first season with an ACL injury. Topić, who I had a top-five grade on going into the draft, fell to OKC at 12. The Thunder needed some help with point guard depth, so they drafted both Topić and Dillon Jones—who has played well in the preseason as a bulldozing Swiss army knife. Topić will now get the benefit of adjusting to American life and the NBA’s rhythms before stressing himself physically, much like Chet Holmgren did two years ago, with great success.
While Brad Stevens may have been the best GM over the course of the last two years, Presti is the title holder for best overall—which is insane when you think about the fact that OKC hasn’t won a title yet. Still, no one has maneuvered as well as Presti in terms of putting his organization in a position to be great for a significant run of years while providing the flexibility and leverage to do so in a variety of different paths.
Biggest Negative: Youth
You know your organization is in a good position when the biggest problem is whether they just need more seasoning before they are ready to serve up the entire league. In many ways, OKC’s youth is their greatest strength, but for a team that should rightfully have championship aspirations, it could be their biggest weakness as well. OKC entered last season’s playoffs as the youngest number-one seed in NBA history by average age, at 23.4. While the additions of Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso help age the team up a bit, if the Thunder were able to win a title this year, they would challenge the ’76 Trail Blazers for the youngest team ever to win a championship. (Their current 18-man group averages 24.2.)
Players respond the way they do in high-leverage situations because they have the benefit of experience to help them through. For the Thunder, they are so young that most of their roster has barely gotten their feet wet when it comes to the biggest moments. We saw some of that last season against Dallas, as Jalen Williams really struggled and looked unsure of himself, and Chet Holmgren got beat up by the bigger boys. I’m a staunch believer in the honing process of bitter defeat, and the reality is that getting to the level of a championship-caliber team comes with the necessary callousing of losing and coming back tougher and wiser. This season will show us just where this OKC team is on the timeline of progression toward a title, but it may still prove too soon for this young group.
What’s Next: A Trade
I have zero sources on this, so when I fall flat on my face, it was based on irrational confidence, but there is a matter of redundancy and positional overlap between Dort, Caruso, and Wallace, which I think leads to either Dort or Wallace being dealt if a player like Cameron Johnson is gettable. The money is much easier with Dort, but he makes far less sense if you're Brooklyn, where the younger Wallace can build and grow as the potential shooting guard of the future for the Nets. Of course, that’s not the only sensible deal if OKC still craves a wing shooter with a little more size and versatility than Aaron Wiggins or Isaiah Joe provide, but I think that if OKC decides to go all in—and considering the way their cap explodes once they begin signing rookie extensions this coming summer—my spidey sense is tingling that one of those two is likely on the move.
What They Shouldn’t Do: (I Got Nothing) Who the fuck am I to tell Sam Presti anything?
Is There Hope? More So Than For Any Other Team In The League
No organization is better situated for the next five years than the Thunder. This is a team that would surprise no one if they managed to win the title this season, and yet, besides Shai, nearly this entire group is on the upward trajectory of their careers. OKC has one of the league’s three best coaches, its best GM, one of its three best players, and two additional players who are already stars with the potential to expand their games into superstardom. Really, the only thing that presents itself as a potential problem for this Thunder bunch is if the “disease of more creeps” in, but considering how tight-knit a group this is, and how young they are, they have some time to make history before any of that becomes a reality.
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I think the smart play for them if they make any type of moves is to bring in additive pieces--which they nailed with Hartenstein and Caruso--because you're right, they already have all the superstar power they need in house. I don't like the idea of them going bi fish hunting at all
Can OKC go against the NBA formula and simply grow the team from within? Maybe this time homegrown superstars are better for the Thunder than shopping for stars, especially given The Second Apron. We all wanted Russ, KD and clean shaven Harden to be the little team that could. Be nice if OKC could win the championship without any free agent rentals and with Shea, Cason, the Williams, and Chet.