Subscribe
Follow Us
No team in the NBA has been able to rebuild and find as much success as the Oklahoma City Thunder have. When the era of Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, and James Harden ended, the Thunder took a step back, even though they added the likes of Paul George and Chris Paul. What went unnoticed is that executive Sam Presti was secretly stockpiling young talent and a ton of future draft assets in order to once again build his organization into a contender. Every offseason, the Thunder added more and more talent until they finally broke onto the scene during the 2023-24 season as the top team in the Western Conference.
The Thunder hired Mark Daigneault to replace Billy Donovan in 2020. In his first two seasons as the coach in Oklahoma City, Daigneault won 46 total games. Most coaches would've been fired if they were in his position, but Presti had a plan and stuck with it. A total of 46 wins through two seasons turned into 40 total wins during the 2022-23 season, which then turned into 57 wins and the 1-seed in the West this past year. Now, the Thunder are being looked at as legitimate championship contenders in the West despite having arguably the most inexperienced roster in the league.
Close to half of the Thunder's roster has two or fewer years of NBA experience, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the leader of this team at 26 years old. Although they are young, OKC has proven that they are a team not to be trifled with. Gilgeous-Alexander is a real MVP candidate and one of the best combo guards in the league. Chet Holmgren has a chance to become one of the next-best centers in the league due to his two-way nature of play and ability to spread the court. Jalen Williams and Luguentz Dort are key secondary players that understand their assignments on offense and defense, respectively.
Of course, you can't talk about the Thunder's roster without outlining all of the depth and rising talent they have on their bench with Cason Wallace, Isaiah Joe, Kenrich Williams, and others. What makes this organization even scarier than they were when they won 57 games this past year is the fact that the Thunder went out and added two experienced veterans during the offseason: Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein.
The idea of Presti utilizing all of his draft picks to go out and get star players had been tossed around among NBA personnel for ages. Although neither Caruso nor Hartenstein are star players, they each fill a key need that the Thunder had entering the offseason. Not to mention, both veterans bring playoff experience with them to Oklahoma City.
Whereas Hartenstein recently played a pivotal secondary role in the frontcourt for the New York Knicks, Caruso has won a championship before with the Los Angeles Lakers. The only thing the Thunder were lacking during their postseason run last season was experience. With the additions of Caruso and Hartenstein, the Thunder now have exactly what they need in order to possibly make their first appearance in the Western Conference Finals since 2016.
If there is one thing fans in Oklahoma City know, it is that Presti and his front office are the best of the best. Nobody does it better than the Thunder when it comes to identifying talent and building for the future, which is why this organization is once again a threat to go on a deep postseason run.
Thunder key offseason additions and departures
Additions: G Alex Caruso (Trade – CHI), C Isaiah Hartenstein (FA – NYK), G Nikola Topic (Draft), F Dillon Jones (Draft)
Departures: G Josh Giddey (Trade – CHI), F Gordon Hayward (Retired), G/F Lindy Waters III (Trade – GSW)
The Thunder are always scheming. Unlike other organizations around the league whose offseason plans always tend to leak ahead of time, nobody ever knows what to expect from Oklahoma City because of how tight-lipped they are. The idea of keeping everything in-house and developing through their G League system is something the Thunder take a lot of pride in.
Some may look at this organization and say they are very secretive, but the bottom line is that the Thunder are very selective and strategic.
Every move OKC makes has a purpose, and that was on full display this offseason when Presti not only executed a trade with the Chicago Bulls involving Josh Giddey and Caruso, but also when he added Hartenstein in free agency and drafted two underrated rookies in the first round.
The offseason started for the Thunder when they went out and completed a trade for Caruso, a move nobody really saw coming. As far as Giddey's time with the Thunder, the writing has been on the wall since the trade deadline. Although he had some bright moments in Oklahoma City, the bottom line was that Giddey wasn't the right player to have next to Gilgeous-Alexander, Holmgren, and others in order for this team to reach its maximum potential.
As a result, Giddey was sent to Chicago in exchange for Caruso. That was it. That was the deal. No draft picks were sent by either side in what turned out to be a very rare one-player, one-player trade.
Caruso is certainly an upgrade over Giddey because of his experience and defensive tenacity. Already a proven champion with the Lakers earlier in his career, Caruso has become a more well-rounded combo guard due to his ability to defend. Quite honestly, it is not hard to say that Caruso is on the same level as Jrue Holiday in terms of being an elite-level defensive guard. After all, there is a reason he has earned All-Defensive honors each of the last two seasons with the Bulls, who were a bottom-tier defensive team.
The rich are getting rich with this transaction. Last season, the Thunder ranked fourth in defensive rating in large part because their entire roster is composed of two-way threats. Well, tally another one to the list, as Caruso fits in perfectly as a veteran leader and two-way presence in the backcourt.
After trading for Caruso, the Thunder then added Nikola Topic and Dillon Jones during the first round of the draft. Topic was one of the premier guards in this year's draft class, but an ACL injury forced many teams to overlook him. Coincidentally enough, he fell to the Thunder with the 12th overall pick, and the Serbian guard will follow the same path that Holmgren took when he first entered the league in regards to sitting out his first year to heal.
Jones will be a work-in-progress for the Thunder, but he checks off a lot of boxes for being a do-it-all type of player on the wing. While there isn't one aspect of Jones' game that sticks out, he truly doesn't have any weaknesses either. It won't be long until the first-round pick ends up being yet another steal for the Thunder.
The last order of business for this franchise during the offseason was making a big splash in free agency with the cap room they had available. Due to the fact that no stars were on the market that fit what Oklahoma City has built, they went out and landed Hartenstein to play behind Holmgren. Hartenstein is known for his rebounding abilities, especially on offense, and he will instantly provide a spark of energy by coming off the bench and giving the Thunder extra possessions.
This ended up being an A+ offseason for the Thunder, and they will see immediate impacts from their new additions.
Alex Caruso, Isaiah Hartenstein impacts
It always seems like many NBA teams are scared to pull off a medium-sized move. All the time, teams are swinging for the fences to sign the biggest All-Star in free agency or land a superstar All-NBA talent in a trade. Smaller trades and acquisitions are always overlooked, yet this is where the Thunder have been able to improve the most.
When the Thunder traded Paul George to the LA Clippers in 2019, the headlines surrounding Oklahoma City revolved around the fact that they gave up arguably the best two-way player in the league at the time for a guard heading into his second season and a plethora of draft picks. The same negative response was presented to the Thunder when they consistently underutilized their cap space, failing to add high-impact talent in free agency.
While the rest of the league and media laughed at the Thunder several years ago, it is Presti and his staff that are laughing now because none of their moves were failures. Even the draft picks that didn't pan out the way the Thunder had hoped still returned a level of value. If you need proof of this, just look at what happened with Giddey.
The sixth overall pick from 2021 didn't live up to the high expectations placed upon him in Oklahoma City, so the organization moved him for a proven, defensive-minded leader in Caruso. In addition to getting Caruso, trading away Giddey also opened the door for the Thunder to be able to add Hartenstein in free agency because they don't have to tie themselves down to a long-term contract over the next few years for the facilitator, who is entering the final year of his contract. That is now Chicago's problem to figure out.
One thing always leads to another, and every move this organization has made over the last few seasons has led to the Thunder being able to increase their championship odds right now with Caruso and Hartenstein joining the team.
There isn't much that Caruso won't be able to help the team with. Aside from becoming the oldest player in the locker room, the experience and lessons Caruso brings with him are invaluable. Players like Cason Wallace, Aaron Wiggins, and others in the backcourt get to not only learn from a real MVP candidate in Gilgeous-Alexander but also from a defensive mastermind in Caruso.
On the court, Caruso's value will speak for itself next to Luguentz Dort. These two are going to be awfully tough to get past, and even if their opponents are able to drive to the rim, they still have to try and find ways to score over Holmgren. It is not hard to believe that the addition of Caruso makes the Thunder the best defensive team in the NBA.
As for Hartenstein, his impact in Oklahoma City will come by way of cleaning the glass. The 26-year-old center averaged 8.3 rebounds per game last season in his secondary role with the Knicks, and he was among the best in the league when it came to grabbing offensive rebounds. The Thunder are already one of the best-scoring teams in the league, and now they have a backup center who can provide even more chances to score.
Both Caruso and Hartenstein are major additions to the Thunder in terms of their chances of winning a championship, yet they aren't classified as big moves since neither player is an All-Star. The Philadelphia 76ers may have added George in the offseason, and the Dallas Mavericks brought in Klay Thompson, but if it is the Thunder who win the Western Conference, the moves to bring in Caruso and Hartenstein will be looked at as the greatest additions made this NBA offseason.
Thunder 2024-25 season outlook
No matter how you look at it, the Thunder are one of the best teams in the league entering the 2024-25 season. The scary thing is that this team is only going to get better with time and as they grow both as a group and as individuals.
Talent exists up and down this roster, which is one of the many reasons why this organization has been able to build itself back into a powerhouse over the last handful of seasons. You don't go from winning 20 games in a season to 57 games in a season over a four-year span without executing a vision.
The Thunder have done just that.
Presti is the architect of the team, Daigneault is the brains on the sidelines, and Gilgeous-Alexander is the MVP candidate. The rest of the players each have their assigned roles, and the Thunder have made it a point of emphasis to show that they are one collective unit.
In postgame media interviews, the Thunder are the only team in the league that gathers around Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams, or whoever else is being interviewed to make it known that they are all one. The comradery of this team and their style of play, where there are no egos, is what has made the Thunder the team to beat in the Western Conference.
After winning 57 games last season, it would be quite a surprise if they finished with less than 50 wins this season. Although the West is tough and almost every team in it is competing for a playoff spot this upcoming year, Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder know what it takes to win.
Expect to see this group make a deep postseason push.
