{"id":79347,"date":"2024-05-30T12:08:09","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T16:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=79347"},"modified":"2024-05-30T12:08:09","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T16:08:09","slug":"2024-nba-off-season-preview-whats-next-for-the-oklahoma-city-thunder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/30\/2024-nba-off-season-preview-whats-next-for-the-oklahoma-city-thunder\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 NBA Off-Season Preview: What&#8217;s next for the Thunder?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The NBA offseason is usually filled with a bunch of big trades and movement of players across the league. This is the time of the year when teams either start the rebuilding process, improve their roster, or make big moves to contend for a championship. With the Oklahoma City Thunder losing in the Western Conference Semifinals to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/teams\/DAL\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dallas Mavericks<\/a> 4-2. They have now shifted their focus to the offseason. This is an offseason for the Thunder with many question marks going in and how can Sam Presti improve this team with all the draft capital and assets to do so?<\/p>\n<h2>2022 NBA Off-Season Preview: What&#8217;s Next for The Thunder?<\/h2>\n<h3>Season Recap<\/h3>\n<p>However, before we get talking about the future let&#8217;s look back at the remarkable 2023-2024 season this was for the Oklahoma City Thunder. They became the youngest team to ever get the number one seed and win a playoff series. The Thunder had the runner-ups for both MVP and Rookie of the Year. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gilgesh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> was first-team All-NBA for the second straight season. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/holmgch01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chet Holmgren<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/20\/nba-announces-2023-24-all-rookie-team-selections\/\" target=\"_self\"> made the All-Rookie first team<\/a>, while<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wallaca01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Cason Wallace<\/a> made All-Rookie second team. The Thunder were top five in both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/teams\/advanced?SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;dir=A&amp;sort=OFF_RATING\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">offensive<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/teams\/advanced?SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;dir=A&amp;sort=DEF_RATING\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">defensive<\/a> efficiency, they led the league in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/teams\/shots-general?SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;dir=D&amp;sort=FG3_PCT\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">three-point<\/a> percentage as well as blocks. These are just some of the many team and individual successes they had this year.<\/p>\n<p>What should be a scary sight for opposing teams is this is just the starting point of how good this Thunder team can potentially become. How good this Thunder team can be, is all going to be determined by how they improve their team through the offseason.<\/p>\n<h3>Projected Cap Space and Draft Picks<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4>35 Million in Projected Cap Space<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h4>12th overall pick<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Thunder were rewarded with the 12th pick once again from the Houston Rockets. The Thunder should have around three roster spots available with the expiring contracts of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/biyombi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bismack Biyombo<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/muscami01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike Muscala<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/haywago01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gordon Hayward<\/a>. So, they have roster room to add a rookie or two. They have four options for what to do with the 12th pick. They can either trade down and get a player later in the draft, they could trade up if they like a guy higher in the draft, they can stay put, or they can use this pick in a trade for a star player.<\/p>\n<p>If they trade up it would most likely be for a guy like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/donovan-clingan-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donovan Clingan<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/international\/players\/alexandre-sarr-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alexandre Sarr<\/a> to help with their big depth that they desperately need. Players to target if they stay put would be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/cody-williams-2.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cody Williams,<\/a> the brother of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willija06.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Williams<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/dalton-knecht-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dalton Knecht,<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/international\/players\/tidjane-salaun-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tidjane Salaun<\/a>. The third option if they choose to trade down, guys to target would be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/kyle-filipowski-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyle Filipowski<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/kelel-ware-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kel&#8217;el Ware<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/zach-edey-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Zach Edey<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/daron-holmesii-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DaRon Holmes II<\/a>. What the Thunder do will be determined by who they think will fit this team the most and they have the roster flexibility to draft not one but possibly two of them if they like more than one guy. The Oklahoma City Thunder will most likely not trade this pick for a proven player in the NBA as they have prioritized building through the draft.<\/p>\n<h3>Pending Free Agents and Possible Departures<\/h3>\n<h4>Free Agents<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/joeis01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Isaiah Joe\u00a0<\/a> (Team option)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wiggiaa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aaron Wiggins<\/a>\u00a0(Team option)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/biyombi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bismack Biyombo<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/muscami01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike Muscala<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/haywago01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gordon Hayward<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/waterli01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lindy Waters<\/a>\u00a0 (Team option)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Oklahoma City Thunder have two important players with team options that they will have to decide whether or not to pick up. The players are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/joeis01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Isaiah Joe<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wiggiaa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aaron Wiggins<\/a>. They are two very important role players for the Thunder and have been very important players in their success in the last couple of years.<\/p>\n<p>Now, the Thunder could use the same approach they did with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/dortlu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lu Dort<\/a> a couple of years ago where they declined their team options and gave them a pay raise, that they desperately deserve. The other option is they can wait till next year and pick up the options however, if they do that they would become unrestricted free agents as opposed to restricted free agents. If they do this approach they run the risk of losing two key rotational pieces next year.\u00a0The rest of the OKC&#8217;s free agents all played minor roles with the team and aren&#8217;t expected to return.<\/p>\n<p>Another important note is that <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/22\/2023-24-all-nba-teams-revealed\/\" target=\"_self\">Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made All-NBA first team<\/a> in back-to-back years. Making him eligible to sign a<a href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/10122251-luka-doncic-shai-gilgeous-alexander-qualify-for-supermax-contracts-amid-all-nba-nods\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> super-max<\/a> extension in the 2025 offseason that would make him the first player in NBA history to make 80+ million in one season. Since he is now eligible to sign that next offseason it now makes this offseason that much more important for the Thunder to improve this team with the cap flexibility they have.<\/p>\n<p>Before, they have to start paying guys like Shai, Chet, and Williams. Down the road, they won&#8217;t have the same flexibility as they do this year to improve the team. Making this a pivotal off-season for the Thunder that could set them up for long-term success.<\/p>\n<h4>Trade Pieces<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/giddejo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Giddey<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Draft picks<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The biggest question for the Oklahoma City Thunder this offseason is what to do with the 21-year-old\u00a0Giddey who was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/12\/will-the-thunder-make-a-starting-lineup-change-josh-giddey\/\" target=\"_self\">benched<\/a> in the playoff series against the Mavericks. Giddey who is eligible for a rookie extension this offseason for the Thunder has made it <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/love-josh-giddey-wants-remain-200022503.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">clear<\/a> that this is the team he wants to play for. However, is it in the best interest of the Thunder to keep him around as he was struggling a lot this year and it doesn&#8217;t seem like he fits with the team anymore? A lot can change in a year to see if he can fit the Thunder moving forward.<\/p>\n<p>The Thunder will probably not extend him this offseason and let his rookie contract play out once he becomes a restricted free agent. Then they will determine what to do with Josh Giddey. They will also most likely not trade Giddey as well unless a trade comes up that is too hard not to refuse. While a trade isn&#8217;t necessarily likely if the Thunder look to land a star Giddey along with some combination of future draft picks the Thunder have would get a deal done. Notably, they possess\u00a016 first-round picks between now and 2030. \u00a0This is what Sam Presti had to say about Josh Giddey&#8217;s future with the team.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Presti on Giddey&#8217;s on-court fit: &#8220;He\u2019s 21. 21-year-olds generally have up-and-down years. He is tough, and he is clutch. He\u2019s been asked to changed some things, and he hasn\u2019t flinched one time. &#8230; I think he\u2019s a significantly better player at the end of this season than he was\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Joel Lorenzi (@jxlorenzi) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jxlorenzi\/status\/1795500518422282593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 28, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Realistic Off-Season Targets<\/h3>\n<p>Oklahoma City has a lot of ways to improve this roster. They can improve through the draft, free agency, or trades. They have a lot of flexibility with the 12th pick to use, over 30 million in cap space, and future draft picks to use in a trade. Now the question becomes what path are they going to use to improve this team for next year. They will most likely do a combination of things as they have done previously.<\/p>\n<p>With the draft class being weaker they won&#8217;t be able to improve as much through the draft, but they will definitely make a pick or two and try and develop those players. The big improvement will have to come through free agency or trades. The Thunder have a couple of holes they need to fix to get better for next year.<\/p>\n<p>The first hole they need is size and rebounding as they were one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/teams\/rebounding?SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;dir=D&amp;sort=REB\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">worst<\/a> teams in rebounding this year and got beat up down low in the postseason. They will probably add a big in the draft as well as through free agency or a trade of some kind. The second hole is to get another guard on the team as they really only have two guards in Shai and Giddey. They will especially need another one if they end up moving off of Giddey.<\/p>\n<p>The third and final one is more wing depth and shooting help. You can never have enough wing depth in the NBA. For the shooting, even though they were the number one three-point shooting team by percentage in the regular season. When it came to the playoffs, they struggled shooting the ball so they can always add a veteran shooter who has experience in the postseason.<\/p>\n<h4>Trade<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/johnsca02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cameron Johnson<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/stewais01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Isaiah Stewart<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/markkla01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lauri Markkanen<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When the Thunder started this rebuild and made all those trades to accumulate draft capital, it set them up to be able to trade for a star player whenever they were ready to compete and win again. The need for that star is no longer there with the OKC&#8217;s early success paired with the emergence of Holmgren and Williams. Jalen Williams in his second year has improved drastically and is positioning himself to be an ideal co-star to Shai. Holmgren had one of the better rookie seasons we have seen in a while and is most likely going to be that third star for the Thunder. If Chet and Williams keep improving they are going to set the Thunder up to have a nice young big three that play well with each other for the next decade.<\/p>\n<p>It is going to be important for these two to keep developing so the Thunder don&#8217;t have to trade for a star player with all of those draft picks. Instead, using the draft picks to trade for role players to help this team fill the necessary holes year in and year out to compete on a year-to-year basis. Johnson and Stewart would upgrade OKC&#8217;s roster in a meaningful way without requiring a ton of assets.<\/p>\n<p>Stewart would give the Thunder an interior presence and rebound off the bench. He would also provide some solid floor spacing abilities as a big man. Johnson would provide the Thunder with some wing depth and three-point shooting. However, given OKC&#8217;s plethora of picks trading for a star can&#8217;t be ruled out. Markkanen would be the ideal target as he offers both elite floor spacing and a solid inside presence his skill set makes him capable of playing alongside OKC&#8217;s existing core.<\/p>\n<h4>Free agents<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/claxtni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nic Claxton<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/harteis01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Isaiah Hartenstein<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/trentga02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gary Trent Jr.<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/anunoog01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">O.G. Anunoby<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thompkl01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Klay Thompson<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/harrito02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tobias Harris<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Given OKC&#8217;s roster needs this group of free agents makes sense to target. Claxton and Hartenstein are two centers that would improve upon the rebounding and size issues. Both players would also be intriguing defensive fits next to Chet. Anunoby would be a dream target and would give the Thunder one of the best three-and-D players in the league. Thompson and Trent would improve upon the spacing and both would be interesting fits next to Shai in the backcourt. Harris would give the Thunder a versatile four-man and someone OKC could buy low on after a disappointing playoff performance.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The NBA offseason is usually filled with a bunch of big trades and movement of players across the league. This is the time of the year when teams either start the rebuilding process, improve their roster, or make big moves to contend for a championship. With the Oklahoma City Thunder losing in the Western Conference [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5171,"featured_media":79510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,22],"tags":[4292,4609,4276,49265,1489],"class_list":["post-79347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-thunder","tag-chet-holmgren","tag-jalen-williams","tag-josh-giddey","tag-nba-off-season-previews","tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}