With the 2023-2024 season behind us as well as the offseason. We are only a couple of months away from the start of the 2024-2025 NBA season. The Oklahoma City Thunder made many moves including trading away Josh Giddey for Alex Caruso and signing free-agent Isaiah Hartenstein. They made big moves even after having a 57-win season and being the number-one seed in the Western Conference. However, there are still questions to be answered. The biggest one being is, who gets the fifth starting spot?
When the Thunder traded away Giddey it left an open spot in the team’s starting five. The Thunder will likely keep Lu Dort in the starting lineup next to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren. Now the question is who will join those four in the starting lineup. This will be an interesting decision for coach Mark Daigneault and company to decide, with many options they could go to. It will be the most intriguing Thunder rotation battle heading into training camp.
Thunder Rotation Battles: 3 Players Competing for The Final Starting Spot
The Front-Runner Should Be Alex Caruso
The front-runner for OKC’s final starting spot should be Caruso. The Thunder typically run a fast-paced small-ball lineup. In which Caruso should fit seemingly in the starting five and replace Giddey. He won’t bring the same playmaking ability and rebounding that Giddey provided. However, the role that they forced Giddey to play last year was to be a corner three-point shooter. That is a role Caruso will do much better in.
In addition to that having him and Dort on the defensive end guarding the opposing team’s two best players will be too enticing to pass up. However, on the flip side of that having Dort, they may look to have Caruso come off the bench to keep fresh legs on the opposing team’s best player. Regardless, Caruso should be the front-runner as he makes the most sense to replace Giddey in the starting lineup to play the same way they did last year.
The Case For Isaiah Hartenstein
There is a case for Hartenstien to win this Thunder rotation battle and be that fifth starter playing alongside Chet. The Thunder were in the bottom five last year in rebounding which was their biggest weakness last year. Having Hartenstein in the starting lineup will improve them in that category. To go along with that, they also paid him 29 million dollars over the next three years. This is a hefty price to pay for someone to come off the bench. It will also take a lot of the pressure off Chet from having to guard the more physical bigs and get worn down in the post.
However, having Hartenstein in the starting five will hurt the five-out system the Thunder want to run. Hartenstein doesn’t shoot the three ball, he is an in-the-paint scorer. He did mention in his press conference that he may shoot more threes this year which could help his case. Nonetheless, even though he doesn’t shoot from behind the arc, his passing ability should help counter that a little bit. He is one of the more underrated passing bigs in the NBA.
Isaiah Joe Is The Dark Horse
Isaiah Joe could be the dark horse to win the Thunder rotation battle for the last starter spot. Last year in games five and six against the Mavericks, Joe replaced Giddey in the starting lineup. Joe is the Thunder’s best three-point shooter and he fits their five-out offense as well. He won’t bring the defense that Caruso would bring but he is a better shooter than Caruso for the role they will both have if in the starting lineup. He will help the Thunder get to quicker starts in the beginning of the game, which was a problem for them last year in the playoffs. However, his best fit is still to come off the bench and be their knockdown shooter.
The Last Word
Overall, the Thunder rotation battle for who gets that final starting spot will be very intriguing to watch play out in the next couple of months. However, Mark likes to try different things out so they are prepared for anything that may come up in the playoffs. With that being said the base starting five will most likely be Shai-Caruso-Dort-Williams-Holmgren. Then if they play a team that is big Hartenstein will replace Caruso in the starting five. As for Joe, he will most likely only start if there is an injury.
