The last game of this NBA campaign is complete and with it, the OKC Thunder and their peers may enter the draft and free agency with a different perspective.
The 2018-19 season officially came to a close last night. Now all teams will actively move into draft and free agency mode. In hindsight, the OKC Thunder season didn’t meet the results fans hoped it would at season start but as they attack the offseason in earnest it’s important they capitalize on lessons learned both internally and from other squads.
While it’s fresh in our consciousness the NBA Finals offered some of the best insight. Although Thunderous Intentions will get into the overall lessons in great detail in an upcoming more detailed post, let’s look at a few keys from the final game of the NBA season.
To that end, the NBA Finals finished on Thursday evening and there is a new champion – the Toronto Raptors. Meaning for the first time in the history of the NBA the title belongs to a non-U.S.A. team. It was arguably the most competitive and exciting match of the finals series yet on top of losing the loss served up additionally Warriors’ angst.
With 2:22 remaining in the third quarter Klay Thompson broke away for what initially looked like it would result in an easy dunk. Danny Green caught up to contest and fouled Thompson who landed awkwardly and immediately clutched at his left knee grimacing in pain.
Thompson got part way down the hallway toward the locker room before realizing he’d need to shoot the free throws or not be able to return to play in the game. As it turns out that was a moot point as his night was finished. In fact, it was confirmed later via a Woj bomb that Thompson tore his ACL.
Even if Warriors are able to keep Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant in free agency, it'll be a fight to reach playoffs in the Western Conference. Thompson's ACL rehab could take him into February or March -- and Durant likely misses entire season. Devastating turn of events. https://t.co/xKXayv9p34
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 14, 2019
It’s one thing to lose the title and shot at 3-peating, but after losing Kevin Durant to a ruptured Achilles in Game 4, the Klay injury is devastating news. Free agency was expected to be the most active in years and now the Warriors two key free agents will potentially miss all of next season.
How will that affect the rest of the league and free agency? A myriad of questions loom. Presumably, the Warriors will still try to retain both via long term contracts but doing so will mean they have less salary flexibility with which to add depth.
Conversely, the Warriors will be the only team afforded insurance options on these two players so team’s who elect to lure Durant or Thompson to their squads would be stuck paying their full salaries next season without their services in year one (or in Thompson’s case likely most of year one) and unable to claim any insurance relief. Even for the Warriors, I believe a certain number of days have to pass in the season before they can apply for the insurance so they’ll have no additional funds with which to add assets limiting their flexibility initially if they retain both.
How will this affect the Western Conference specifically? How does his injury (like Durant’s) affect other free agent’s choices? And, how much does this change team’s strategies who seek to add multiple superstars when they’ve just witnessed first hand how an injury to a superstar(s) can drastically alter championship runs?
Like all teams (and especially those in the Western Conference) the OKC Thunder will have to answer those questions as well prior to making offseason choices.
Moreover, the Raptors just showcased how important depth is. So, the other question for clubs will be how important depth, internal development, and properly fitting roster pieces is when assembling their core squads.
The Raptors became the first title team who featured no lottery (1-14) picks on their squad. Alternatively, the Warriors feature seven (Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, DeMarcus Cousins, Shaun Livingston, and Andrew Bogut).
The NBA is a trendy league and I wonder if the greatest shift we’ll see moving forward is the importance of savvy draft choices with a greater emphasis on fit and the longer term view of development or the ceilings of those assets. Putting this in perspective consider the fact Pascal Siakam was selected 27th (and even that was considered high by many), Fred VanVleet wasn’t even drafted he was picked up following a successful Summer League showing and Norman Powell was selected 46th.
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Granted, the Raptors never got to play OG Anunoby who suffered a ruptured appendix two days prior to the playoffs beginning. But even he was a late first-round selection (23rd) and came two picks after the OKC Thunder selected Terrance Ferguson.
At the very least this NBA Finals has shone a new light on the importance of scouting, later round draft selection (plus finding and developing hidden youthful gems), fit within a team’s system plus the growth and development groups within organizations.
As mentioned, a coming article will dive into other valuable lessons learned from this series. But the immediate takeaway from the closeout game was the draft and free agency portion of this offseason just got much more interesting.