Today we look at the Oklahoma City Thunder, one of the youngest and best teams in the Western Conference that are ready to win right now
This past season in the Western Conference, we started to see a changing of the guard. LeBron James and Steph Curry, who have dominated the NBA for over a decade, were in the Play-In Tournament. In their place have been the young upstarts of the West. The Dallas Mavericks (who made the Finals), the Denver Nuggets (who won the previous year’s title), the Minnesota Timberwolves, and perhaps the most intriguing of them all, the Oklahoma City Thunder. It is hard to find a team that has a higher potential upside than Oklahoma City that is both young and winning right now. While they lost to Dallas in the second round of the playoffs, it is clear that the time is now for this Thunder team and the moves they made this offseason prove it.
The Thunder’s four core players of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, and Luguentz Dort are all under 27 years old and likely just getting better. Gilgeous-Alexander is a prototypical modern point guard with size and scoring ability, a bonafide MVP candidate. Jalen Williams is looking to be heading in an upward trajectory as a potential All-Star. Dort is an elite lockdown defender on the wing, and Chet Holmgrem is a stretch big that is a capable defender. What the Thunder lacked in the playoffs was experience, rebounding, and more shooting.
They have addressed all of these concerns this off-season with the signing of center Isaiah Hartenstein and trading Josh Giddey away to Chicago and getting Alex Caruso. Hartenstein was a key piece for the Knicks during their playoff run last season thanks to his tremendous offensive rebounding skills. Hartenstein ranked fifth in offensive rebounds per game and second in offensive rebound percentage. His skillset as a rebounder and connector on offense, making a dynamic offense even more dynamic. The addition of Caruso is a correction to the Josh Giddey experience in the playoffs, where teams intentionally sagged off of him and compromised the team’s spacing. In Caruso they get a capable and willing defender that hit 40% of threes last season in Chicago.
Many championship teams operate under a window. The Thunder have a 2-3 year window to capitalize on while both Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams are on affordable rookie scale contracts. After that, the team will have decisions to make and it could very well mean losing one of their young stars. It is an unfortunate reality that the team could be looking at losing a player that they have drafted and developed, but it is something that Oklahoma City will need to grapple with. In the meantime, they have a deep roster and a lot of pick capital moving forward to further improve the roster if they desired to. From 2025-2031, the Thunder own 16 first round picks and 17 second round picks. If they wanted to make an offer that other teams could not refuse for a key piece, they simply have more assets than any other team.
The success of these next couple of seasons will be defined by the progressions that Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams can make, especially in the playoffs. Williams specifically, was good but not great in the playoffs, which is to be expected of a second year player. The experience that this group gained in the playoffs will be crucial to their development moving forward, but it is abundantly clear that the time for a feel good story is over. This is a team that is ready to compete for titles today and we all need to treat them as such.
It is hard not to see the way this team has come together and not be reminded of the young Thunder team that made the Finals with a young Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, and James Harden. That team ran into a super team in the Miami Heat that was ready to win. They would never quite get back to that point before that team was broken up and the rebuild started. This team feels more complete, with components that are all bought in to the team concept. The Thunder should be a top three team in the West next season, and should be considered one of the teams that can win the whole thing. It is a lot of pressure for a team that is still very young, but they are talented enough to warrant and overcome that pressure.
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