The 2021 offseason is only a mere seven games away for the OKC Thunder, and fans couldn’t be happier.
After making it to five straight postseason appearances and 10 overall throughout their 13-year existence, Oklahoma City has decided to turn to a new era and embark on a full-fledged tank.
Uncharted territory indeed for the fanbase, but they’ve welcomed the journey with open arms similar to how they do with just about anything Sam Presti has ever decided to do during his tenure as General Manager — all praise Presti!
Seemingly ahead of the curve when it comes to the trajectory of other tanking teams, for the Thunder already seem to have a long-term franchise cornerstone in place in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the bulk of the hard work seems to be over for the front office.
That said, while they may already have such a building block, it’s never wrong to strive to attain more, and OKC looks destined to be in the running for one of this year’s top-tier talents coming out of the NBA Draft to fill such a role.
Currently in possession of the fifth-best odds of winning the lottery and landing the No. 1 overall selection in July’s draft, the OKC Thunder could realistically find themselves with the pick of the litter on the night.
Even if they landed the No. 2 or No. 3 selection, there is still a great chance the front office will snag a great player, as the top talents in this year’s class are quite impressive.
Reminiscent of players both past and present, many of these incoming rookies have the potential to reach star status at the next level, including the players that currently find themselves linked to the Thunder.
To get an understanding of just how high their ceilings could be, we felt it would be fun to concoct a series comparing some of the top names from this incoming class to NBA players that we feel most resemble their specific games/ skill sets.
Starting with the projected first overall pick in 2021, our series begins with 2 comparisons for Oklahoma State standout, Cade Cunningham: