The OKC Thunder endured the worst season (win-percentage wise) of their 13-year existence this past campaign so that the fun part of their full-fledged franchise rebuild could commence during the summer of 2021.
Due to their tribulations, potential triumphs look to be right around the corner for, due to their fourth-worst record in the league’s standings, Oklahoma City finds itself in possession of the fourth-best odds of landing the top slot in July’s NBA Draft, and, overall, have a 45.1 percent chance of landing a top-four selection.
It’s undeniable that of all teams to not have made the playoffs this year, the Thunder come into the offseason in the best shape.
That said, even with their envious situation, this is not to say that Sam Presti and co. don’t have some work to do in order to keep their ship running smoothly.
To some, the biggest objective for the OKC Thunder is to come away from this year’s draft as unequivocal winners. To others, it’s finding a taker for veteran big man, Al Horford.
For the folks at Bleacher Report, however, they believe that keeping the team’s overall flexibility intact is the main goal this summer.
Citing the fact that their roster already has quite a few guaranteed contracts in tow heading into 2021-22 and that they’ll likely be forced into adding on other assets this summer be it by means of the draft, where they hold the rights to two first-round picks, or via trade writer Dan Favale is under the impression that tough roster decisions must be made:
"Eleven of next year’s slots are gone when looking at players under contract and non-guarantees they’re likely to retain. Another two openings will be filled by draft picks (their own and either Houston’s or Miami’s first). Thirteen spots, in all, seem spoken for—and that’s on the low-end.Oklahoma City has a couple of free agents it could look to keep in Tony Bradley (restricted), Mike Muscala and Svi Mykhailiuk (restricted). It may also need an extra roster spot (or two) to facilitate an Al Horford trade; his $27 million price point makes an identical player-for-player swap difficult, if not unlikely.This says nothing of the Thunder’s projected cap space. They’ll have more than max money available if they carry all of their incumbent free-agent holds, and chiseling out between $45 and $50-plus million in spending power is a fairly effortless venture. Oklahoma City is not yet good enough to go star-hunting or throw money at veterans willy-nilly, but it won’t be standing entirely idle. New faces will be part of the plan."
Though perhaps viewed as “champaign problems”, as other tanking teams’ top priority is to try and find any semblance of a franchise building block while the OKC Thunder already have theirs in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, these decisions the front office will be forced to make this offseason will be vital in making this summer a success.
While we at TI believe there to be a few other priorities to focus on, B/R is under the impression that keeping their flexibility deserves to be at the top of their to-do list.
It’s hard to disagree with their logic.