The Thunder won it all last season, and all the talk was about the start of a dynasty and how the team was set up to compete for titles for years to come. And maybe that’s still true, but it certainly doesn’t feel that way after watching them bow out in Game 7 to the Spurs on their home court in the Western Conference Finals.
Despite how loaded the OKC roster was supposed to be with all of their great young players and draft picks, far too often, it felt like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was by himself out there. Obviously, Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell were injured, but his All-NBA teammate, Chet Holmgren, pulled a disappearing act, Lu Dort and Isaiah Hartenstein no-showed, and a team hailed as a juggernaut a few weeks ago looked extremely mortal in defeat.
And now that their season has come to a shocking halt, short of even reaching the Finals, they have real questions to answer. For a while, Sam Presti has played the long game, refusing to make any all-in moves, instead stockpiling assets and pushing things forward.
It looked great last year when they won the title, but now, the team is about to get very expensive, and the roster may not be good enough. They still have lots of good players and an embarrassment of riches when it comes to draft capital. Do they finally decide to push some chips in and put a more established star next to SGA?
Thunder could be top suitors for Giannis
The indication has always been that the Thunder weren’t in on Giannis, but after losing to 22-year-old Wemby, they may have to change the calculus. They have 24 and 25-year-old All-NBA performers in Chet and Jalen Williams who could headline any package. They have role-playing shooters like Isaiah Joe, Jared McCain, and Aaron Wiggins. And they have defensive aces in Dort, Alex Caruso, and Cason Wallace.
They also have untapped young lottery potential in Nikola Topic and Thomas Sorber, and as I mentioned, as many draft picks as anyone. Anything that the Bucks are looking for, the Thunder can satisfy. And if not, they can get it from another team.
OKC can outbid the Celtics for any player they want
OKC has to jump into contention for any possible star trade now. Maybe it’s not Giannis, but it could be Evan Mobley, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis, or any other player who may be available and may catch Presti’s eye. If OKC wants the deal, they can make it happen.
Perhaps they’ll keep playing the long game and will run it back next season with this team. But they need to make changes to shed money anyway, and if they go star-hunting, that could create issues for the Celtics, or any other team that wanted to make a big splash this summer.
The Celtics have emerged as a legitimate threat to land Giannis and other stars, but this could change that. The bottom line is that if the Celtics and Thunder are interested in the same player, the Thunder will almost certainly win that bidding war, and there’s not much Boston can do about it. Whether they’ll actually show interest or not is another story, but if they do, the Celtics will likely have to shift to plan B.
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