The OKC Thunder had one of the fastest turnarounds in the NBA, with a two-year total teardown, finishing with 40 wins in the 2022-23 campaign, earning a play-in bid, and rostering one of the league’s best young cores.
Now, the Oklahoma City Thunder head into a season with the most anticipation the fans have had in half a decade. Many expect another massive leap in wins coming off a 16-win jump a year ago. Adding in 2nd overall pick Chet Holmgren, the highest selection of the rebuild, a developing core of Josh Giddey, Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace, Ousmane Dieng, Keyontae Johnson, and Jaylin Williams to go along with a superstar in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and a mountain of future draft picks to improve their squad.
This OKC Thunder team also owns a lot of depth, from Isaiah Joe, Kenrich Williams, and Aaron Wiggins to Aleksej Pokusevski, Vasilije Micic, and even Davis Bertans. Mark Daigneault will have a lot of interesting decisions to make a Rolodex of players to flip through to compile a winning unit night in and night out.
The OKC Thunder have survived their rebuild era, and three starters stand out from that time frame.
Before we embark on a new Oklahoma City Thunder basketball era, let’s look back at a fun time in Bricktown. While many losses piled up, there was something special about these teams. They felt personalize to us, the few that stayed locked into Thunder basketball during a brief two-year “dark period.”