The OKC Thunder embark on year two of their rebuild, this time, the season will look more normal. Fans will be in the stands, the offseason is somewhat normal though still the second shortest in league history, and the league will return to their 82-game format.
However, this season will look extremely different to Oklahoma City fans who have only seen two losing seasons in Bricktown, and might not have even checked in on last year’s squad with all that was going on in the world.
The team missed the postseason for just the third time in OKC history and is starring down the barrel of a fourth, their first time missing out on the postseason in back-to-back seasons.
This is new territory for Oklahoma City fans who have only known competitive basketball since the team left Seattle for greener (or bluer, given the color scheme change) pastures.
Unsurprisingly, some within the fanbase hoped the OKC Thunder would not take this step back, electing to build through the draft and play young players, sacrificing a few wins.
Sam Presti preaches patience within the OKC Thunder fanbase
Sure, the Oklahoma City Thunder could decide to be mediocre, for as bad as the offense performed last year, they found ways to stay in the hunt before shutting down Al Horford and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but what does that accomplish?
While the team would make more money, the fan base would eventually turn on the direction of the squad that continues to get bounced in the first round as they already did after the team failed to reach the second round of each postseason since Kevin Durant jumped ship in 2016.
The Thunder have bigger aspirations, not only winning an NBA Championship but having sustained success en route to a title and beyond. They want to rip off another ten-year run of being consistent title contenders, rather than a few playoff appearances scattered across a decade.
Sam Presti reassures the fan base the organization will not take shortcuts in their quest for success while scoffing at the notion of fans needing reassurance for patience after just one pandemic shortened fan-less arena season.
Mark Daigneault, the now second-year head coach, has a passion for the process and excitement for the development that comes with it making him the perfect bench boss for the OKC Thunder.
Presti applauds the team’s face of the franchise point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for his maturity, and understanding of the process.
As for the timeline, your guess is as good as Sam Presti’s, who knows how the players on this roster will develop and when they will reach whatever their ceiling ends up being. Oftentimes, as the OKC Thunder general manager points out, it takes an unpredictable act out of the team’s control in a positive or negative direction.
We are not sure when the rebuild will end and the winning starts up again, but that is part of the fun. This time a year ago, OKC Thunder fans would have signed up for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander only turning into a solid number two options before he rattled off a 2020-21 campaign that not only earned him All-Star consideration but a max contract extension with the buzz around Bricktown crowning him as the team’s go-to star.
What if Josh Giddey turns into a Luka Doncic level player? What if Aleksej Pokusevski reaches his unicorn potential? What if year three Darius Bazley becomes a double-double machine?
These are mostly far-fetched but examples of unexpected positive outcomes that could accelerate the team’s rebuild process.
Even something as simple as winning the 2021 NBA Draft Lottery, swapping Giddey for Cade Cunningham on this roster, would have been an acceleration-worthy outcome on the surface. Along with evaluation talent, your organization needs a ton of luck to return to glory.
Everyone is on board with Presti’s plan to return to the big stage, you should be too.