Entering the first rebuild in franchise history the OKC Thunder must do three specific things to make this season a success.
After a decade of competing in the playoffs and pushing for the championship, the OKC Thunder find themselves treading on new ground as they enter the first rebuild in their short tenure.
With budding star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander running the show now, I have compiled a list of things they simply must get right to start this journey back to title contention on the right foot.
No. 1: Don’t trade away all the veteran talent
This concept may seem contrary to what the OKC Thunder want to do during a rebuild, ‘that’ being trading away aging players for draft capital to build around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. It is important we keep a few veterans around to continue to mold the young players and build a strong culture.
Too often fans have seen high draft picks on other teams go to a bad situation with them either underperforming or playing well and jumping ship for greener pastures the second the opportunity arises.
Keeping some veteran voices in the locker room to guide and mentor players like Gilgeous-Alexander and Darius Bazley will be far more valuable to the growth of the team than the on-court numbers they will be putting up.
For example, Al Horford’s contract is definitely an albatross but he is a proven player and an absolute professional who will no doubt have a profound effect on the team and culture just as Chris Paul did last year.
So before we ship everyone over the age of 23 out for second-round picks, let’s remember that we want to keep that amazing OKC Thunder culture so that all these young players want to stay in OKC long term.