Did OKC Thunder confirm the starting five during Photo shoot?

The OKC Thunder are poised to have a successful season, and with the most excitement around this team since 2017, Media Day felt like an arrival to a new era of Thunder basketball.

A year ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder made a 16-win improvement, which landed them in the NBA Play-In tournament, finishing a game shy of the NBA Playoffs. Since then, the Thunder have added 2022 2nd overall pick Chet Holmgren back to the fold for his NBA debut, 2023 10th overall pick Cason Wallace, two-time EuroLeague MVP Vasilije Micic, and Davis Bertans to the fold. This has led many in Oklahoma City to make lofty predictions.

Did the OKC Thunder confirm starting lineup assumptions at 2023 Media Day during a photo shoot?

The Oklahoma City Thunder held their annual Media Day on Monday in downtown Bricktown. The Thunder do not have a ton of drama ahead of the 2023-24 season; many of the storylines we are tracking will get the same answer: “Wait and see.”

That is partly due to the belief that we already know who the starting five is for the OKC Thunder on opening night. The Thunder might have just confirmed it with this photo shoot.

The OKC Thunder captured Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, Lu Dort, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren in this group photo shoot. That has been the assumed starting five by myself and 99 percent of others who follow the Thunder closely. It certainly seems strategic that this would be a grouping during Media Day.

Jalen Williams discussed how he gained a ton of muscle over the offseason to better prepare himself for playing the four, a role he occupied at times last season, with Chet Holmgren being viewed as a center and the perimeter pieces set to mesh. This could be a lethal first five for Mark Daigneault.