Did The OKC Thunder Already Win The NBA Offseason?

Did The OKC Thunder Already Win The NBA Offseason?

next team here that we need to talk about so let’s go with the let’s go with the Oklahoma City Thunder they’re having a banner off season you wanted them to be aggressive and they were they kind of tow the line between where it’s traded for Alex Caruso and now they’ve paid some of their own guys so they decline the team option on Joe isia Joe Aaron Wiggins we talked about that on this podcast would they do that would they renegotiate and extend basically the same difference you out the work with smaller cap holds um with going this route so you four years 48 million for Isaiah Joe uh a steal just average annual value of1 million I’m interested to see like are they gonna frontload this I haven’t seen the just exact contract numbers and they’re all kind of placeholders at this point um but like you could frontload those so that they’re just going to get even cheaper down the line five years in basically the same amount of money uh in total five years 47 for Aaron wickins so I I think is probably OKC’s most underrated player maybe you could still make a case for kendri Williams even though he faded and of course Kon Cas Wallace is there can no longer make a case for Lindy water thei um but just like there’s so much like he’s a defensive um fiend this is someone who like he can hit jumpers off the catch he can hit some complicated jumpers he can give you Rim pressure if he’s on I don’t expect him to finish this Theon OKC in part just because between Shay and Jay duub and Cas Wallace not that case Wallace is ball dominant now Alex cuso I just don’t know like he’s ever gonna have the opportunity like where he could really shine this is someone who like if you’re looking for a back court Cornerstone of the future and you’re not the Thunder who don’t necessarily need that he has intense value to you and so to get two of their most underrated Joe is underrated he’d be another player that you can make cases with his motion shooting um and he he works on defense too uh I don’t know that everyone realizes that it doesn’t always end well but like he he really works he’s got this slight frame but he really he he works his ass off so those two guys on Ultra team Friendly Deals have Alex Caruso now you sign as a hartstein three years 87 million sticker shock right there team option or it’s non- guaranteed in year three we have to see if there’s a partial but that is the Knicks couldn’t even they gave him more over three years than the Knicks could guarantee him over four if they went through all the C minations the Knicks apparently had it on the table there’s nothing they could do it’s different from the Bruce Brown situation in Denver last year but they the Denver had a hard Max of what they could offer him because of the non-bird stuff the Knicks had a hard Max of what they could offer Isaiah hartstein because of the early bird unless they had cap space which they didn’t he’s gone I love this fit for OKC um I do think the Thunder are paying a little bit of a premium here to say maybe you’re not I think he’ll start sometimes if he ends up being the I he’s making a lot so maybe they anticipate starting him all the time certain matchups for sure but this felt like a premium to say hey you’re not always going to be closing on this roster just because we have Chet hongren there and it’s just gonna make a lot more sense to sometimes you know just between Lou Dort Jay duub Shay Gill Alexander like there’s three perimeter plus chat that’s four of your spots that you can argue are locked up and there there’s flexibility with Lou Dort for sure but three of your closing spots are locked up and Jay dub Shay and Chad and some nights it’s going to be like do we need Isaiah Joe shooting do we need to have an Aaron Wiggins or Cas Wallace in there L Dort of course is going to factor in Alex Caruso is on this team by the way so it felt like they’re paying a premium for that and then this deal becomes not guaranteed as you’re starting to Grapple with all right we’ve had to reinvest in Jay dub and Shay and and Chad hogen so the timing works out for them gives you the offensive rebounding element gives you someone where I think you match up a lot better in theory conceptually against Minnesota against Denver like some of these like against well New Orleans doesn’t have yonis funis anymore but just some of these like bigger massive front Court so um love everything that I don’t think there’s anything to dislike I think the one thing you could say that you’re a little uneasy about would be it felt like they still needed someone to put defenses in rotation in the playoffs who wasn’t a Jay dub or Shay Gil alander in part because there were limitations on what J job was doing however this is a team I mentioned this with what was the team that I was just the magic this is a team that can expect internal growth from Jay duub from Cas Wallace from Aaron Wiggins like they just might have the answer already on the roster and so they might have viewed that as not the need where it’s you look at what they wanted the physicality the strength the size the rebounding you couldn’t say okay I don’t know that big Jaylen Williams is gonna turn into that kenis Williams is too small you couldn’t say necessar that was already on the roster with this you could just say it might just be Jay du and Shay or nothing like now we just have the anary pieces and is it Alex Caruso is it Aron Wiggins those are two guys that can Aaron Wiggins for sure can do it so I I I feel better about them not going that route but rumor has it they might still have some assets that they need to turn around and make a trade but I wouldn’t expect it to happen this off season it might just be well let’s see we know more about our team let’s get information of what we are with Isaiah hartstein and Alex kuso if we need to kind of shape shift around the trade deadline that’s exactly what we’re going to do so I this is just a great off then by the way they still have the room exception floating around out there and so if they wanted to make like another move I don’t I don’t know who that is or what player you you want that to be that’s left um who’s gonna fall through the cracks who’s gonna be the Kelly UB Jr of this where it’s like they end up signing for the minimum whereas they only one left oh man they were just did Demar Rosen take the room exception to play with OKC I don’t I don’t actually hate to fit functionally but it would be like an incredibly weird move so I’m not telling them to do that if it’s available but the Thunder are I think at this point you should probably project them to be the best team in the west it’s between them or Minnesota I don’t know how people feel about Memphis especially if you’re gonna play a rookie big and Zack Edy a ton of minutes so I’m just trying to think of if there would be another CID oh Dallas for sure so Dallas OKC Minnesota and Denver those are probably the teams that are you look at they’ll jockey for the top four spot um OKC I think would be my pick right now but I’m Dallas has a much stronger case than I probably ever would have anticipated even that’s after their finals run too not that they need me to be impressed but I’m impressed uh let’s tackle look let’s just tackle the Nicks we’ll kind of Just Bounce Around the the other side of these uh they TR we know five first one swap Plus going on for Mel Bridges that’s interesting they kept o Obi 5 years 212.5 million player option year five and then their round is were like as I’m recording this like they’re inside $2 million of the tax after losing hartenstein we’ll see who they are they just gonna bring back precious aoua goo baz’s off the market so who are they they need another kind of big here I do think what’s interesting the OG deal makes me a little uncomfortable but after you traded for Mel you had to and this defense could be nasty or should be nasty with him with with OG Josh Hart Mel even Dante D venzo if du McBride is healthy if Mitchell Robinson is healthy like they have some dogs on this team I’m wondering I’m wondering I don’t know if I’m excited but I’m pleasantly optimistic or curious if having OG and Mel and Josh Hart and then the undersized units that we saw New York play independent of the center position want to make that clear does that convince Tom Tibido to be like well maybe we’ll try some Julius Randle at the five and then you become really Dynamic offensively if he’s your five like you could play I don’t know what your three needs to be but you could you could bookend it with jayen at the one Julius at the five Mel Josh Hart and OG maybe you’re a little bit worried about the spacing but just because does Josh Josh Hart have the volume and OG and Mel Bridges are okay Shooters but they’re not like super high volume ju that’s five out though that’s that like it’s a minimum of four out maybe four and a half out I don’t know how you want to view Josh Smith we’ve seen him let her rip and and make some of them so like I hope Tom tibo is open to doing that I almost don’t want them to sign another big like let’s just push forward with Jericho Sims and and Julius Randall and let’s Meander on here um I don’t know if this was if this was worth going all in for when we’re looking at the final product it’s almost it would have made more sense if you knew you had hartenstein so that’s a wrinkle but you couldn’t not go for it and the two things I will note on this and I noted them Grant I noted them but I want to just anyone who’s new or didn’t hear those thoughts if giving up what you did for Mel Bridges and Shores one or both of these two things that jayen Brunson is either going to sign his extension 154.50 million dollars that’s huge and even if it’s just if it ensures he’s going to take less let’s let’s say he gets a free agency and he’s just going to take five years and 200 or so like if if you’re getting to that point and then if you also know that Mel Bridges in six months is willing to sign the threee $13 million extension now you’ve cost controlled your best players to noticeably sell Max contracts including OG in a way that’s a lot of money for OG um that makes you feel better about it but they’re not out of options they have the Washington pick the Detroit pick they can include some swaps other picks will open up over time they have Julius Rand salary if they want to get really spicy they’re not out of options here but this is like they’ve kind of decided this is the team maybe something kind of fussing and fiddling on the margins are a little bit bigger than that but you’ve you’ve decided with this trade jayen Brunson Julius Randle oan no Mel Bridges Josh Hart Dante D chenzel Mitchell Robinson I’m going to throw dece McBride in there that that’s like your like top eight and like that’s a championship caliber team I don’t know if they’re Championship caliber they’re certainly good enough to be the second best team in the East even after the Philly trade but right now I think it’s it’s clearly between um those two [Music]

Dan discussed the Oklahoma City Thunder adding Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein while re-signing Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins. Have they already won the NBA offseason? After that, he gets into the New York Knicks offseason and whether they’re the second best team in the East. Check out the full episode here👇

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