B/R questions who’s a long-term fit with the OKC Thunder

The OKC Thunder are in a complete rebuild which, in turn, means turnover rates will be quite high as we venture through the next several seasons.

With the fact that the front office will have a total of 34 draft picks at their disposal through 2027, with 17 potentially falling within the first round, it’s evident that there will be a bevy of roster shakeups in the coming years in order to accommodate their capital.

Because of this, it’s up to Sam Presti and co. to decide who on their current roster will be viewed as long-term assets, and who should be viewed as roster fillers until they have the chance to bring along someone better.

Obviously, their All-Star snub, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, isn’t going anywhere as he’s still only 22-years-old, in the third year of his rookie-scale deal, and has averaged 20.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.2 assists on 48 percent shooting from the floor and 38 percent shooting from deep throughout his tenure in the Sooner State.

However, outside of the combo guard, one could argue that everyone else could be viewed as expendable in one way or another which, in turn, has many wondering who could wind up staying put for the long haul.

In the eyes of Bleacher Report writer, Dan Favale, this is the biggest question that still haunts the OKC Thunder.

Citing the team’s need to make room for their upcoming draft picks & return players in potential offseason trades to clear the books even more, Favale believes, outside of those named SGA, Darius Bazley, Luguentz Dort, and Aleksej Pokusevski, tough decisions will have to be made when it comes to who will return for 2021-22 and who will depart:

"The Thunder cannot reasonably bring everyone else back. Even if they let prospective free agents walk (Bradley, Mykhailiuk), they still have a surfeit of non-guarantees, plus two inbound first-round picks and SGA’s money.They will also, in all likelihood, need multiple roster spots to facilitate a Horford trade. Finding someone to absorb his $27 million salary while sending back no more than one player would be a minor miracle. And with the option of chiseling out $60-plus million in cap space, you have to imagine they’ll sign someone(s) not already on the roster.Rosters spots start flying off the shelves pretty quickly when taking a bird’s eye view of the Thunder’s offseason. They have the maneuverability to essentially run it back, but idleness is for finished products."

While we at TI certainly believe there are currently a couple of players not listed above that could be viewed as long-term assets for this ball club, ultimately no more than four people (and even this number may be a bit generous) find themselves safe from the chopping block.

This offseason will likely see a ton of moving pieces which will likely lead to a very different OKC Thunder roster come tip-off next year.