General manager Sam Presti and the Oklahoma City Thunder are currently in the midst of what figures to be a highly important offseason as for the future direction of their franchise after what was a wildly successful 2023-24 campaign. Although the Thunder showed their youth and inexperience at times during their recent second round loss to the Dallas Mavericks, there is still plenty for Presti and company to be excited about for the future, especially considering the treasure trove of first round draft picks the team owns over the next few seasons.
One of the few non-bright spots for the Thunder this year was the play of third year Australian guard Josh Giddey, who continued to look like a not so ideal fit in the Oklahoma City Thunder rotation in the backcourt alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who finished second in this year's MVP voting.
Recently, Presti broke down his thoughts on the disappointing season from Giddey.
“It was an up and down year…. he's 21, 21 year olds typically have up and down years,” said Presti, per Schlecht of The Athletic on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter.
Presti also spoke on Giddey's mental toughness.
“He is tough, and he is clutch,” said Presti.
In a vacuum, Josh Giddey would appear to be the odd man out in the current Thunder rotation. Giddey's main strength is his passing ability (he is arguably the best inbounds passer in the NBA, for what that's worth). However, obviously, in order to pass the ball, one needs the ball in their hands, and it's typically in the Thunder's best interest for the ball to instead be in the hands of Gilgeous-Alexander.
This at times leaves Giddey camping out around the three-point line, where teams are happy to leave him alone considering that he's a relatively poor jump shooter out of the guard position. This is exactly what happened in the series vs the Mavericks, as Dallas consistently neglected to even care about Giddey on the defensive end, and the Thunder eventually had to move the Aussie to the bench as a result.
A potential trade candidate
Despite this, there are some situations around the league where Giddey might theoretically fit, particularly in situations where teams are top-heavy at the wing positions but lack production out of the point guard spot, such as the Phoenix Suns for example.
As a whole, the Thunder have a whole lot to be excited about moving forward. Gilgeous-Alexander is now entering the prime years of his career (he will be 26 next year), but most of the young guns on the team, particularly Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, figure to be still several years away from fully coming into their own.
Of course, the Thunder have heard this story before, as this is after all the same franchise that once employed young versions of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden, and somehow came away with zero rings.
However, second chances are hard to come by, and Presti appears to want to do everything in his power to maximize this one.
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