OKC Thunder: 2 players who deserve increased role during final month

We at TI believe there are a few players on the OKC Thunder that deserve an increased role during this final month of regular-season action

It’s all systems go when it comes to the tank for the OKC Thunder.

Despite surprising many during the first half of the 2020-21 campaign, boasting a record of 15-21 and finding themselves legitimately in the running for a play-in tournament bid, since the All-Star break Oklahoma City has dropped 14 of their 20 games and has fallen considerably in the Western Conference standings, as they now hold the third-worst record at 20-35.

Though to some this alteration in the team’s success rate may be a bit disappointing, as many had shifted away from their desire to see a tank campaign due to their impressive early-season production, to others things are all going according to plan, as the ultimate goal is to build a championship contender, and the more losses they cultivate the better their chances are at landing a top tier talent in this year’s draft.

Frankly, no matter how you feel about this aforementioned matter, there are still 17 games remaining on the season for the Thunder, which means there’s still ample opportunity to see the team take to the hardwood before the offseason.

With the fact that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is still out with no set date for a return and Al Horford will be kept on the sidelines for the remainder of the year as Mark Daigneault looks to get the team’s youngsters some extended play, OKC has an interesting opportunity to experiment with their rotations and lineups during this final month of action.

In these final outings, we believe the team should strongly consider giving two specific players bigger roles, if nothing more than to simply see what they may have in them and if they could be considered long-term commodities: