The Future Of The Thunder Is… Complicated.

The Future Of The Thunder Is… Complicated.

so the Oklahoma City Thunder season is over if you want to see like kind of more in-depth details about game six about how it went down I made a video about that over here but I want to talk about kind of the future we’re going to talk about the season for OKC but I want to talk about the future I want to talk about the offseason I want to talk about how they’re going to be able to continue to improve this roster as clearly a team with arguably the brightest future in the entire league now briefly let’s talk about you know kind of a little bit of a season review for OKC and then we’ll talk about the offseason right so I think that the way that the season ended for OKC felt about right obviously you know exceeded expectations by far by being the one seat in the conference but certainly felt like less of a contender than maybe some of these other teams like Denver or obviously now at this point Minnesota whatever the case may be um felt like maybe a tier below them but still extremely good and again exceeding expectations with the youngest team to ever win a playoff series uh Chad obviously basically is a rookie uh Jaylen Williams a young player like still a lot of pieces that they need to figure on this roster and it’s interesting that even as good as they were from a record standpoint they didn’t see the need to add significant pieces at the trade deadline and more so continue to think about the future continue to think about having flexibility down the road which almost makes me think one of two things either the front office realized that they were exceeding expectations and didn’t want to you know fully invest in a playoff run or two they just didn’t like their options potentially at the deadline and preferred to make some moves in the offseason now in terms of the offseason there are certainly a lot of moves to be made for Oklahoma City there’s some interesting Gordon Hayward possibilities here some interesting trade possibilities of course with all these future first round picks but let’s begin by talking about free agency because as good of a season as OKC had I’m not sure people realize they have salary cap space this off season now they would have to um release the cap hold on Gordon Hayward they wouldn’t be able to resign Gordon hayw would go over the cap obviously he wasn’t really helpful for them at all after they traded for him so that’s not really that relevant but they would have to release that hold and then they’d have somewhere in the $3 million range um of salary cap space and this is certainly a good offseason in which to use that space because some of these guys on the roster are going to need extensions here coming up and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them Target some kind of Veteran player out there um to add to this group maybe on a shorter deal as well because you don’t want this big long-term contract to be added for a team that’s already going to be really expensive with presumably a Max down the road for Jaylen Williams and maybe a Max down the road for chat as well in addition to the SGA Max that they already have on the table there so certainly they could use that 15 that 30 million they could split it up they could get a couple of different guys I think they’re certainly going to Target you know potentially maybe another creator alongside SGA they certainly need you know a fifth guy that they can start and finish games with that was a real struggle for them and obviously they’re going to have plenty of internal Improvement as well OKC is always going to get creative maybe they’re willing to take on a bad contract for a year or two years maybe get some more draft picks they certainly don’t need anymore but you always have to account for the possibility that they’re not going to do the conventional thing because I think a lot of teams in this scenario would use the cap space on one player try and add one more piece but they’ve been a little bit protective about how they want to build this team over the years what kind of pieces they’re allowing in and out and I think again that speaks to a lack of additions at the trade deadline for them that ultimately might have been the difference in this Dallas series it really just depends on on what they want to do like there there’s plenty of names out there right like maybe maybe they want to be the Klay Thompson team maybe they think that Tobias Harris is a good option I don’t know I mean we we’ve talked about this a lot with OKC in terms of like they could use another big alongside chat but how does that impact their offensive spacing they’re such a cool and unique team and they they played so well together this year with the pieces that they have that they’re going to be protective about you know kind of the players that they bring in but the more interesting thing to me apart from the free agency stuff like I think they’re going to add some pieces is obviously the draft they’re going to have a ton of picks going to move up and down add some pieces it’s what they do they were able to add chat they were able to add jelen Williams like they’re really good in the draft right the trade possibilities are extremely interesting for me for OKC because I mentioned I was going to get back to the Gordon Hayward thing when when they traded for Hayward I thought it was strange because I was like I don’t really know that that guy is going to help OKC all that much but there’s some interesting salary structures stuff here with their roster where when you look at you know pieces that they could potentially trade for for a star or whatever the case may be they don’t really have a ton of salary matching options and obviously they can in this offseason absorb that guy into their salary cap space but the more efficient thing to do would be to use the cap space and then send out some of your other contracts um you know for a star obviously Hayward wouldn’t necessarily work in that scenario if you want to sign a guy and then let him go but that you know that would be kind of the efficient thing to do right well what OKC could do and what I thought might have been the reasoning behind getting Hayward in the first place was try to put together some kind of sign and trade scenario where they sign him to a year or two contract that’s got a decent um you know salary figure to it and then send him out in addition to you know Josh giddy some picks to go and get you know another player alongside SGA you obviously there’s the piping scenarios of like oh maybe it’s Paul George maybe it’s sonan Mitchell um but even if it’s something like you know Jared Allen or Clint Capello or you know whatever happens potentially in Cleveland with a variety of their players I feel like that’s always going to be an option for City and maybe that would be an option for them for Gordon Hayward more than likely it was just about hey maybe this is a guy that could help us and obviously it didn’t work out that way but it is at least interesting to keep an eye on obviously the piece that people are going to talk about all offseason long and I think is decently likely to be traded assuming Oklahoma City wants to make a move would be Josh giddy I talked about this during the season I think that there is some potential for him when he’s kind of the the the Creator on the team someone that can set other guys up obviously as a spacer alongside SGA and an Oklahoma City team that needs spacing um giddy is just isn’t a natural fit right and uh it’s not like he’s a really really good Defender provides some you know pretty good size and uh you know some okay rebounding and stuff but as a spacer just isn’t anide an ideal fit alongside SGA they tried it it didn’t work and I think at some point they’re going to have to come to the realization that he is just not the piece that they hope that he would be and at this point given that he doesn’t have a contract uh Beyond next season he’s going to go into the last year of his rookie deal this upcoming season I think it’s decently likely that they explore their options in terms of trading away giddy even if it’s just for a better fit on the roster even if it’s not as a centerpiece of some kind of star trade because I don’t think giddy has that level of value of course Oklahoma City does have all these future first round picks that they can use if they would like to go out and acquire star whether it be using the Hayward money whether it be using um you know josky at the center of it whether it be just absorb absorbing a a player’s contract into their structure all of those are certainly options and I think all offseason long we’re going to get plenty of you know people making videos people writing articles talking about who’s the star that the Thunder could bring in who’s the you know the big piece can they get down of Mitchell can they get Paul George can they get all these things whereas I think more realistically the history of the way prey is built this particular team tells us that he’s going to look more for fit than he is Stars he’s going to look for pieces that he thinks are going to work well with this group he’s going to identify the weaknesses and then he’s going to use the assets that they have to address those weaknesses as long as he sees fair value he understands that this can be a long-term Vision his job security is not in danger the coach’s job security is not in danger they know they can take their time on this and they have such a young group that it’s okay if they don’t trade for a star this off season it’s honestly okay if they don’t trade for a star at all over the next couple of Seasons depending on how Jaylen Williams and Chad and all these other guys potentially developed not to mention whoever they get in the draft this year case Wallace they’ve got so many options that I don’t think they’re going to feel the need to make some kind of desperation move just because obviously they had a really good regular season um and want a playoff series as the youngest team to ever win a postseason series and I think it’s important to make that distinction because we kind of fall into this trap a lot where it’s like okay can we just add another star like how how do they add a star to this group and then obviously Elevate themselves about that and it doesn’t necessarily always work out that way it’s not always additive to add a player alongside SGA that’s just going to take the ball out of his hands now obviously specific to this Dallas series it became abundantly clear that they do need another Creator they need another option at least some kind even if it’s like Jordan Clarkson like they need someone that can create and score for them a little bit you know if Jaylen Williams is off and and sga’s on the bench or something like they need they’re asking a lot of Jaylen Williams as a second-year player to create as much offense as they want to especially without SGA out there or just to have another option that certainly is going to be something they’re going to explore but more realistically I think the front court is is a spot that the Thunder are going to look to to add in pretty aggressively here it’s it’s interesting certainly that they ended up losing obviously to Dallas who drafted Derrik Lively Oklahoma said he certainly had an opportunity um to draft Lively and how that potentially would have fit alongside chat we just don’t really know kind of what their thought process is in terms of what kind of big they want alongside Chad or if they want CAD to play the long term I think it’s probably unsustainable to think that CAD is going to be an everyday five you know for years and years and years with his frame and certainly in certain matchups we saw that against Dallas but they’re not the only team with a ton of size in the front Court obviously Denver obviously Minnesota a ton of other team the Lakers a ton of other teams as well like you need to at least have the option and that’s where things get a little bit tricky for Oklahoma City right because like yeah you could trade for Clint capella you could trade for Jared Allen both players that I think would really help them but you know how do those guys play alongside CH how does that affect your offense and then are those guys good enough to be individual Defenders and and make enough of an impact that it would actually help you to add them to the roster you know when you’re going up against some of these bigger teams in the conference like teams I’ve already mentioned so it’s interesting how the the available bigs although obviously their play style is different from Chad as Rim rollers Rim protectors their their physicality doesn’t necessarily uh provide anything new for the Thunder along whether it be alongside ched or in replacement of chat when chat comes off the floor and there AR really you know a ton of really great options for them out there in terms of a big that provides them more overall size and then also fits really well alongside Chad so there’s going to be some options there I also would keep an eye on you know kind of some out of the nowhere out of nowhere options like maybe Tobias Harris like I mentioned earlier uh Lowry Markin is a thing that we talked about in the beginning of the year as well if Utah potentially wants to move on from him seems very very unlikely unless he just doesn’t want to sign an extension but that would be an interesting option alongside chat and I think the bottom line here is the future of the Oklahoma City Thunder is extremely bright even if they don’t out of start of this offseason even if you know they only add a big or they just use their c space even if they just add Klay Thompson like their future is so so bright and it’s important to keep in mind where your expectation levels were for the Thunder before the season started and then where ultimately they ended up when you’re evaluating what moves you think that they should make in this particular offseason they obviously have all these future picks and at some point they’re going to have to use them they can’t just keep having all these rookie scale contracts on the books all of those certainly are factors but if we know anything about prey he’s going to wait for Value he’s going to be efficient he’s going to see what he likes and then he’s going to make his move he’s not just going to make a move because everybody else feels like they need a big or they need you know another star another Creator alongside SGA and I think patience is probably going to be the name of the game uh this offseason for Oklahoma City in terms of how they’re going to add would it be free agency trades or potentially the draft as well and if that is the case then really the future of the Oklahoma City Thunder is going to be more so decided upon or decided by I should say how Chad develops how Jaylen Williams develops how K Wallace develops like it’s very possible that the issues that we’re seeing with this Oklahoma City roster that we’re trying to figure out the answers to the answers already exist on the roster like big Jaylen Williams might be the guy that they need in the front Court alongside Chad K Wallace might be the fifth player that they need that fits well alongside Jaylen Williams um and SGA in terms of creators and then Cas Wallace is like the next Lou Dort maybe they’re able to move L Dort or something like that um it’s very possible that SJ Jaylen Williams is certainly good enough to advance you deep into the postseason as Jaylen Williams continues to develop it’s important to keep in mind the overall youth of these guys I know I say in all these videos they’re the youngest team to ever win a postseason Series right like even though yes there a one seed you would have hoped they would have gone further their their future is incredibly bright and there’s going to be stuff out there about them making big time trades and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if their roster looks pretty similar just with a couple of additions with that free agency money as we go into next season but regardless I honestly cannot wait to see what OKC does this offseason

The season is over for the OKC Thunder after a game 6 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, and they enter into an offseason in which their future is… complicated.

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