OKC Thunder Offseason Guide: The MASTER experiment 👀 | NBA on ESPN

OKC Thunder Offseason Guide: The MASTER experiment 👀 | NBA on ESPN

all right a happy Monday hopefully everyone is doing great uh we did not do an Oklahoma City video after they were eliminated by Dallas Saturday evening we are going to do an Oklahoma City video on Monday morning uh a busy weekend in the Marx household besides ESPN duties as my 18-year-old graduated high school so lot going on all is good uh let’s talk a little bit about the Oklahoma City Thunder um you know it’s interesting when you lose as the number one seed um in the playoffs there is a sense of certainly sometimes disappointment the window is closed um what’s going to happen with the roster and I kind of look at a little bit differently than I guess what maybe most people do or most um unrealistic people do uh I I I really looked at where Oklahoma City was last year certainly where they’ve been since 2019 when they made the Paul George trade and we’ve we’ve seen this transition yearly transition as far as taking steps plan last year winning a game and then basically taking a you know they didn’t even you know you know get to the six seed or win a couple playing they basically go from playing to the number one seed and and win 57 games it was almost like a master experiment this year as far as what works what doesn’t work um what they need to address in the offseason uh put their players on Center Stage um certainly they performed at a high level in the the New Orleans series um and then certainly there were moments more moments of probably struggle in the uh Dallas series against a really really really good Dallas team um certainly their length bothered them um and now you basically go into the offseason and you say okay you know and I’m sure s pristine is front office and the coaching staff there um we’ll look at this Dallas series and says okay what works what doesn’t work and how do we go out in either draft or whether it be free agency or whether it be some of the all the draft picks we have and how do we go out and address it um and that’s how I looked at kind of the ending to this Oklahoma City Thunder as far as it was a master experiment experiment as far as um what Oklahoma City needs to do now a year from now if we’re talking and they are in the same boat or if they lose in the first round then it’s okay what you know maybe there’s a little bit more than just some Cosmetics around the edges as far as what happens with this Oklahoma City roster here um and as I said you know where Oklahoma City is there is the Temptation they have the ability potentially to create $33 million in cap space they have the 12th pick in a draft they’re the only playoff team to have a lottery pick um they have future draft assets 13 first round picks 20 second round picks that he can have out to go out and play but when you look at how Oklahoma City has constructed this roster they are not a team that will go out and uh I’m just hypothetical here give Nick claxon for example a fouryear $100 million contract um or Malik monk or some of these other free agents I’m just throwing out some of the the names free agents there are ludor bisbach Mambo Gordon Hayward and Mike muscal those are guys free agents that signed contracts who were on the roster for the veteran minimum um ludor parlay that into a bigger contract basically because he had been on Oklahoma City for multiple years Oklahoma City does not operate out of the you know we’re going to go out and spend 4 years $100 million on a free agent now if they acquire a player in a trade we’ve seen history whether it be Shay as far as locking them up long term I think there is a a tremendous risk as far as free agency presents a tremendous risk as far as disrupting the balance of your roster um it’s the unknown you’re basically taking a player from another team that maybe has some bad habits on and off the court and trying to fit it in what you’ve already um established is basically I was it’s the example of you know go the fox eating the hen right you put the fox in the hen house he’s going to eat all the hens that’s pretty interesting so that is where I look at it for Oklahoma City as far as 11 players under the age of 26 won the third most games in franchise history 12 players under contract um for next year including the starting five only team with a lottery pick 13 first 20 seconds right it’s a huge huge number as far as where they are and what they’ve built over the last couple years there are some decisions they have to make though okay certainly the first decision is what they do with cap space two players uh Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe have Team options and they’re a little bit different uh Aaron Wiggins has a team option I would expect Oklahoma City to decline the option make him a restricted free agent and then sign him to a new contract if he plays out the contract and there’s no deal in place he becomes unrestricted free agent okay years of service he has three years of service Isaiah Joe is a little bit different because if you decline the team option he becomes a unrestricted free agent and then unless you have a deal in place before you’re not going to do that they can negotiate they can do deals you know negotiate with these guys starting the day after the finals is concluded okay so somewhere in mid June for both players I would I wouldn’t be surprised if Oklahoma City goes in the direction of of rewarding both players and then using what is left in cap space to maybe go out and make a trade here you’ve got to spend 90% of the $141 million salary cap by the first day of the regular season so they’re going to spend the money it’s just a matter of is it with their own players or is it going out there in a trade as I said I would be stunned that if they go out and you know plop down $30 million on on a player just not how they’ve operated um with this roster and it’s also how the window they’ve got this financial window as far as before um next year uh Chad hren Jaylen Williams are extension eligible sheay gilis Alexander is eligible to sign a super max um in next year also that would hit in 2027 so the finances are going to start to um build here as far as retaining their own players and that’s the beauty of when they have why they have so much why they have so much draft capital someone asked me can they keep all three players yeah they can keep all players because what will happen is when it gets expensive you have Cas Wallace on a rookie contract and when case Wallace becomes expensive it’s now the Denver pick in 2027 so you can keep on kind of filtering through um you know certainly players and that leads to question as far as what happens with Josh giddy who is uh rookie extension eligible this off season it it is amazing um well maybe not amazing I mean we’ve watched watch this this Thunder team all year and we were just I guess probably waiting for the moment when giddy was going to be taken out of the lineup or when would that be based on um I’m G try to um I’m GNA I’m just looking at this in my thing I’m gonna um phrase this the right Josh good is a good player I’m looking I got a text coming in Josh goody is a good player okay 12 points six rebounds and four and a half assists in the last three years okay fourth player in Thunder history double digit triple doubles okay there’s a body of work 200 regular season games he’s a top starter in this league what Oklahoma City has to figure out is that is he a top starter with how this roster is constructed and what did the playoffs confirm as far as whether it be how giddy it fits in when we saw Daniel Gafford Derrik live basically B you know that’s who that’s who Dallas used to put a to guard him Dallas prior to game six Dallas shot 60% when giddy was was the primary Defender we only saw him for 11 minutes here so there’s going to be a decision to make as far as what happens with Josh Giddy and I think you’re probably realistic that extending him doesn’t make sense looking for trade Shooters where you can improve your roster with right the right pieces is probably the more realistic option there um what else do we got here uh team needs uh rebounding rim protector who can play along CH for stretches um like Oklahoma City allowed the second most points in the regular season and fourth most in in the postseason um that’s the state of the roster in Oklahoma City it was probably one of the more easier article they’re never easy but as far as more fluid just based on we know what the future is you know the future is based basically to build off this past season um to figure out what you do with the 12th pick um to figure out what happens with Josh giddy to figure out what direction you go with cap space whether it be rewarding your own players or going out there in free agency and I I see in my timeline oh Paul Geor Oklahoma City to their credit do not go out and and spend on players outside of their own now will that be that change this off season we’ll see but that is it for the state of the roster in OKC 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Bobby Marks delves deep into his latest NBA Offseason Guide following the OKC Thunder’s exit from the NBA Playoffs.

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