The Oklahoma City Thunder may still run into some trouble out West, according to a certain NBA Analyst and former player. ESPN’s Richard Jefferson isn’t moving as fast as most on the Thunder hype train due to an issue he sees in their center position. He shared his outlook during his podcast this week.
NBA Analyst Cautions Hype Surrounding OKC Thunder
One NBA Analyst Illuminates Thunder Problem
The hype circulating the Oklahoma City Thunder going into the 2024-25 NBA campaign is justified for many reasons. However, NBA analyst Richard Jefferson, a regular presence on ESPN’s NBA Today, is calmly asking everything to hit the brakes slightly, so to speak.
Jefferson’s reason? Depth at center. Despite Chet Holmgren‘s emergence last season, the Thunder were one of the league’s bottom-of-the-barrel rebounding teams. The Thunder, aside from Holmgren, were, in fact, pretty lean at the center position. Well, OKC did its best to resolve that issue by going after and successfully accomplishing a free agent acquisition in the form of Isaiah Hartenstein.
Still, Jefferson isn’t fully convinced that Hartenstein’s addition is enough of an assist in the paint. The former NBA player made his case on an episode of his Road Trippin’ podcast.
“OKC, to me, they don’t have enough bigs,” says RJ. “Hartenstein is great. He is an awesome big. But you don’t have a backup. … You look across the line, and yeah, they added size. But they need a legitimate backup to Hartenstein. Because if Hartenstein tweaks a nail and has to miss two weeks, now you’re back in the exact same spot. If he is in foul trouble, now you are in the same spot. You don’t have a backup big. … But now they are one little injury away from not having the needed bigs to battle all of the other things in the West.”
Maybe Jefferson Has a Point
In the eyes of the Thunder, Hartenstein’s playoff performance with the Knicks last spring was all they needed to reel in the 7-0 center. The big man collected rebounds at an elite pace for the Knicks, and his ability to switch from center to power forward is a nice contributing element in his game. Yet, as Jefferson alluded to, suppose either Hartenstein or Holmgren goes down somewhere along the season’s 82-game journey. The Thunder would be back in the same place as last season, with no real depth at center. The Western Conference is home to some of the league’s best centers. Not to mention, those centers are on playoff-contending teams, just as the Thunder are. What might bode well for the Thunder is that several of those playoff-contending teams also need more center depth. The Lakers, Kings, Suns, and Timberwolves all need more legitimate depth at the position.
As mentioned at the top, the hype around the Thunder has merit. Considering their success last season and the rise of their young roster led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, there is so much to love about this team. They are projected to be a top-seeded squad in the West again. Will Holmgren and Hartenstein be enough to protect the paint? In just a few weeks, we’ll begin to find out.
