The NBA Season is right around the corner, as the calendar turns to September, media days around the league will tip off this month with select preseason games taking place on September 30th. The NBA news cycle is picking up, and a lot of the latest developments have impacted the OKC Thunder.
The Thunder organization has lost their 2022 second overall pick, Chet Holmgren, for the entire 2022-23 NBA season with a right foot injury that will surely alter the regular season for OKC. That of course takes some wind out of the sails of Oklahoma City fans ahead of the October 19th season opener, but there are still a lot of exciting pieces on this team led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The NBA saw a blockbuster move yesterday that sent Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a move that was centered around three unprotected draft picks, Colin Sexton, and Ochai Agbaji who was selected 14th overall back in July. This move not only shakes up the Cleveland Cavaliers but has an impact on the OKC Thunder this season.
Donovan Mitchell traded to Cleveland impacts OKC Thunder in a big way. Jazz joins the race for the bottom and another All-Star exit the conference opening the door for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
The Cleveland Cavaliers just got a lot more fun as a team centered around All-Stars Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, future star Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen they can make a lot of noise in the Eastern Conference, even hosting a first-round playoff series. On the flip side, the Utah Jazz quickly join the race for the bottom in a loaded 2023 NBA Draft.
How does this move by the Cleveland Cavaliers and Utah Jazz impact the Oklahoma City Thunder for the 2022-23 season, and beyond?
The Oklahoma City Thunder see two Western Conference All-Stars leave the conference this summer, could OKC Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander be a first-time All-Star this winter?
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been incredible during this time in Oklahoma City, from being a key cog to a squad that made the postseason in 2019-20, to his scoring output rising to 23 and 24 points per game the last two seasons.
The Kentucky product averaged 30 points, seven assists, five rebounds, a block, and a steal per game on 39 percent from deep and 54 percent shooting from the floor in the 13 games he played after the All-Star break before suffering an injury that held him out of the final 10 games of the season.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been poised for an All-Star bid each of the last two seasons but just missed the cut. Now, the OKC Thunder guard seeing Donovan Mitchell and Dejonte Murray leave the conference, two All-Stars from a year ago.
With two spots from last year’s All-Star squad now open, Gilgeous-Alexander will be first in line to take that leap during his age 24 season.
Two big factors holding SGA back from joining the All-Star ranks were team success and availability as SGA played in just 35 games in 2020-21, and 56 games in 2021-22. The Spurs at the All-Star break last season when Murray broke out to make the roster were 11th in the conference with a 23-36 record.
With the addition of Jalen Williams, Ousmane Dieng, and progression by Tre Mann, Josh Giddey, Lu Dort in a better role, and Kenrich Williams still tying some lineups together, the OKC Thunder should still be a competent team around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander despite Chet Holmgren missing the season.
Now that Donovan Mitchell and Dejounte Murray are in the Eastern Conference, it clears the way for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to make a realistic run at his first All-Star bid even more.
The OKC Thunder and Utah Jazz could find themselves racing for ping pong balls by the end of the season, and the 2023 NBA Draft class is loaded, and headlined by Victor Wembanyama
The 2023 NBA Draft class is stacked with potential. Talking to people within the NBA, I have been told there are “40-45 prospects” that have a first-round grade. compared to the last draft, most ended their first-round grades at 25, and some said as few as 18.
That will change as injuries and poor performances derail things, but how much it changes is the real question. On the topic of grades, this draft goes seven prospects deep in prospects who are viewed as franchise cornerstones, in the range of a top-three player in an organization.
While the depth is incredible, it is similar to the 2021 class. People loved Scottie Barnes, Jalen Green, and Evan Mobley, but the number one slot never changed it remained Cade Cunningham for the entire cycle. Victor Wembanyama will go wire-to-wire as the number one prospect in the 2023 class, and some say he is the best prospect since LeBron James.
You can not blame any organization for tanking in the 2022-23 season, to gain a minimum of nine seasons with Wembanyama. It is why times like the Jazz and Spurs have positioned themselves in this way for the upcoming season.
With the news of Chet Holmgren’s season-ending injury, many expect the OKC Thunder to finish at or near the bottom of the standings. However, as I mentioned before, with the pieces on this roster, the Thunder will still be a competitive team night-in-and-night-out but it might not lead to many wins just given the nature of young teams and their typical inability to close out games.
Still, though, I peg OKC to be a better team than Utah, San Antonio, and Indiana for this upcoming season with question marks about how much better Houston, Orlando, and Detroit are than the OKC Thunder.
So the race for the bottom of the NBA will be intense, and this is before any team gets off to a slow start or suffers a disappointing injury.
The OKC Thunder own a ton of future draft assets, but now, so do many other teams
The Oklahoma City Thunder are truly trendsetters. Even the biggest news breaker in the NBA atmosphere was reported as such. After all, the jokes about Sam Presti coveting first-round picks more than tangible players, and all the “black eye of the league” comments, teams are following suit. The Jazz and Thunder each of 15 future first-round picks. The League is catching up to the idea of owning teams’ drafts. The Pelicans, Rockets, Spurs, and Magic all have plenty of future first-round picks to spare for the next disgruntled star.
The OKC Thunder are still in a good spot due to having Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, all these first-round picks, plus young players that can be viewed as “sweeteners” in a deal to push the Thunder over the edge for the next blockbuster NBA trade.
The real key in all of this is the Oklahoma City Thunder owning a 2024 first-round pick from the Utah Jazz all for the low cost of taking on Derrick Favors’ contract on the night of the 2021 NBA Draft.
At the time, the Jazz was looking to make a run for the Western Conference with their duo of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, and just over 12 months later, both are on different teams and Utah is hurling toward a rebuild.
How do you think the Donovan Mitchell Trade impacts the OKC Thunder?