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.”
The OKC Thunder started Georgios Kalaitzakis four games during the 2021-22 NBA season…No, seriously.
Georgios Kalaitzakis’ NBA career has only spanned one season to this point; after being drafted with the final pick in the 2021 NBA draft, the 24-year-old played in 13 NBA tilts split between the Milwaukee Bucks and Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Milwaukee Bucks waived Georgios Kalaitzakis in December of 2021, eventually leading him to sign with the Oklahoma City Thunder on April 4, 2022. With injuries piling up and the Thunder looking to get the season over with, this ten-day deal was to get the OKC Thunder to the finish line.
In those four starts, Kalaitzakis had a -0.1 win share, highlighted by his game against the L.A. Clippers, where he played all 48 minutes! In that contest, Georgios Kalaitzakis posted 17 points, six rebounds, and three assists with two swipes and a trio of triples.
His career high in an NBA game was two nights before in L.A. against the Purple and Gold, where he turned in 25 points, four rebounds, six assists, and three steals in a messily 45 minutes of action. He certainly earned his paycheck in Oklahoma City, playing at least 29 minutes in a game during his Thunder tenure.
To this point, Kalaitzakis has not returned to the NBA, but he was surprisingly effective in his limited role, shooting 46 percent from the floor, 38 percent from beyond the arc, and averaging one STOCK a game. Though, at 6’8, he is a bit limited defensively, which ultimately helped lead to his NBA dismissal.
The OKC Thunder started Charlie Brown in just one contest, but it was glorious.
Unlike Georgios Kalaitakis, who made more starts than Brown, Charlie Brown Jr. still receives NBA opportunities. He most recently played in the NBA Summer League for the New York Knicks. Charlie Brown has hung around in the NBA G League, carving out a role for himself there.
He has logged minutes for four NBA teams, including participating in nine contests for the OKC Thunder during the 2020-21 season. In his one start for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Charlie Brown played 26 minutes, hauled in five rebounds, dished out two assists, and swiped a steal on his way to eight points on ten shot attempts. It was a 57-point loss for the OKC Thunder, where Brown was a -28.
That sort of inefficiency plagued him his entire NBA career. Across his 41 NBA games, Charlie Brown averages two points, a rebound, and half an assist per game while shooting a lowly 28 percent from the floor, 21 percent from three-point land, and 92 percent at the free throw line.
In the NBA G League, Charlie Brown was able to help lift the Delaware Blue Coats to a successful season playing in 51 games, averaging 12 points, two assists, six rebounds, and 1.9 STOCKS per game, all while improving his efficiency to 49 percent from the floor, 32 percent from distance, and 84 percent at the charity stripe.
With the addition of a third two-way contract spot and the fact teams are still giving Charlie Brown Jr. chances in Summer League, the hope has to be for Brown that he can capture a two-way pact this season, his last eligible for such a deal, to impress an organization and land a stable role. If not, carving out a lengthy career in the G League is still an accomplishment and a job that gets better by the day as the NBA begins to boost the resources they pour into the league.
Yeah, the OKC Thunder tried to make Paul Watson happen…it did not.
It was puzzling when sources told me that Josh Hall was released to make way for Paul Watson. By the time Watson landed in Oklahoma City, he was 27 years old, and while he had some glimpses of being a solid rotational piece for the Toronto Reports, his ceiling was not as high as Josh Hall’s, who, if you were in charge of making this list might end up on yours!
It seemed like the only move that felt like Sam Presti zagged against his own zig, dumping a 21-year-old uber athlete who needed more reps as he was limited in his rookie season with a knee injury and a former five-star recruit. However, the more you dig into it, the more it makes sense (and does not matter).
Sources: The Thunder have released Josh Hall, which opened up for this move reported by @kelsea_lately https://t.co/VAsFqoVxEW
— Rylan Stiles (@Rylan_Stiles) September 12, 2021
You could assume the thought process for Presti was, ‘Who has the better shot to be an actual NBA player? Someone who has played a meaningful role in this league? Or a high flyer that shot 30 percent inside the arc?’ and so Presti took a chance on a Paul Watson 3-and-D type player who had it worked and was still young enough to fit into Mark Daigneault’s rotation for the next two or so years.
It did not work. Paul Watson never rekindled his shooting stroke that peaked at 45 percent across 27 games for the Raptors the year prior. Watson only shot 23 percent from three-point land in Oklahoma City on three attempts a night. Falling off from the perimeter rendered the veteran useless for what the Thunder wanted his role to be.
On February 10th, 2022, the OKC Thunder waived Paul Watson, and he has yet to re-sign with an NBA club. The now 28-year-old was a great professional who brought some maturity to the youngest team in NBA history, but ultimately, this is a business. His shooting falloff doomed his chance in Oklahoma City.
He and Josh Hall are prime examples of why Sam Presti cycled through so many players in those two years. Sure, most end up like the names on this list. However, it also birthed Kenrich Williams’ career. He finally got an elongated shot after being considered a “throw-in” to the Steven Adams trade and featured on everyone’s (including mine!) cut list ahead of his first season in Bricktown. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not, but you must go diamond hunting.