OKC Thunder: B/R predicts safest starting lineup for opening day

Though nothing has been made official, Bleacher Report sees one specific lineup as ‘most likely’ for the OKC Thunder come opening day.

After an offseason of purging, the OKC Thunder are prepping for the beginning of a rebuild, as they hold the rights to a plethora of draft capital and have their sights set on reaching the top-spot of next year’s illustrious event.

Seemingly ahead of previous tank jobs like the Philadelphia 76ers of 2013 to 2017, however, as Oklahoma City already has a few key building blocks in place moving forward such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Darius Bazley, and Luguentz Dort.

Heading into this season, expectations are the Thunder will most certainly not be vying for a winning record by season’s end. Even still, games must be played, and, in turn, lineups must be set.

While we here at TI have some ideas as to who could surprisingly wind up cracking the starting lineup this year, other publications have gone about their predictions by keeping things as safe as possible.

In one of their latest articles projecting each team’s opening day starting-5, writer Mo Dakhil has the OKC Thunder rolling out a lineup of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, George Hill, Luguentz Dort, Darius Bazley, Al Horford.

While Dakhil acknowledged that SGA and Dort are essentially locks to crack the first-5, the other three openings are somewhat up in the air, but went about giving his reasoning for why he went the direction in which he did:

"Bazley showed promising flashes last season, most of which he spent backing up Danilo Gallinari. With Gallinari now in Atlanta, Bazley should have a chance to move into the starting lineup.By starting Hill, the Thunder could showcase him to other teams who might be willing to acquire him for a draft pick at the trade deadline. The same goes for Horford, who is coming off a difficult year in Philadelphia. If he bounces back and serves as a strong locker room leader, the Thunder might be able to flip him at the deadline or next offseason.The Thunder aren’t likely to be good this year, but this starting lineup features a good mix of promising young players and veterans who can help guide them."

Though perhaps not the “sexiest” of lineups, B/R opts to predict the Thunder will inevitably go the safe route on opening day.