OKC Thunder: Ranking the 7 worst starters of the Russell Westbrook era

Number 3: Nenad Krstic

Nenard Krstic was an interesting player for the OKC Thunder, playing seven NBA seasons, including appearing in three campaigns for the Oklahoma City Thunder, totaling 169 games. In his time with the Thunder, Krstic started in 152 games after starting 201 of 226 games for the New Jersey Nets from 2004-08.

Krstic played on the inaugural OKC Thunder team, playing in 46 tilts, making 29 starts, before seeing his role increase each of the next two seasons. Eventually, as mentioned previously, the Oklahoma City Thunder needed an upgrade at the center position and flipped Nenard Krstic and Jeff Green for Kendrick Perkins.

During the 2008-09 season, Krstic turned in just 1.7 win shares which lands him tenth worst from 2008-2019 for the OKC Thunder, but the season to highlight was a little better for the big man. Given that the 2008-09 season had no expectations attached to it, there is no reason to worry about win shares that season. However, as this young core was rounding into form, Krstic had the 13th worst win-share season of that span in the 2010-11 seasons (2.0).

Nenard Krstic was a liability on the defensive end of the floor which hurt the OKC Thunder’s ability to get stops in critical moments. While he did provide value on the offensive end for his position, it was not enough to offset the defensive drop-off as the team’s center that season, starting in all 47 games that he played a part of, which is why the team shipped him off in the middle of that season for Kendrick Perkins.

While Perkins could be considered a slight downgrade on the offensive end, he was a massive upgrade defensively for a team that was driven by Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, and an elite scoring option off the bench in James Harden.