We've heard it time and time again. With their combination of young talent, draft picks, and veteran depth, the Oklahoma City Thunder have routinely been crowned as the best-positioned team in the NBA.
Even as they motioned to pay their star trio of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren beyond their rookie deals, this statement held true. They were able to move off of a trio of veterans in Luguentz Dort, Isaiah Joe, and Aaron Wiggins this offseason while funneling in young pieces to fill the voids those moves left behind. For all intents and purposes, the Thunder entered this season as championship favorites—and they had seven first-round picks over the next three years to maintain that complexion.
It all started, of course, with the fateful Paul George trade with the Los Angeles Clippers—in which the Thunder received Gilgeous-Alexander, four unprotected first-round picks, and a protected first-round selection in exchange for their star. That move has allowed them to create this roster, and it yielded them their championship in 2025.
But life comes at you fast. In a highly physical matchup against Los Angeles over the weekend, Oklahoma City lost both Williams and Cason Wallace to what seems to be season-ending injuries in one fell swoop.
Their hopes for a dynasty certainly aren't over. But while a trade with the Clippers made this championship window possible, a singular matchup against them in a relatively meaningless early-season bout just made it infinitely tougher to keep open.
The Thunder are going to need to work some magic this offseason if they want to extend their championship window
As mentioned above, Oklahoma City did an excellent job this offseason given the second-apron and luxury-tax penalties they were facing with this roster. With both Williams and Holmgren getting massive pay raises, the Thunder were able to move off of non-necessary pieces while keeping the primary core of this roster intact. They were also able to extend Wallace, although that bill doesn't need to be footed until next season.
But they were able to accomplish that because they had those movable contracts on their books. The picture gets a lot murkier this offseason.
Starting in 2027-28, Gilgeous-Alexander will be owed $61 million—a number that will escalate as high as $76 million with his player option for 2030-31. Relative to the $40.8 million he's owed this season, that's essentially erasing an entire other contract spot from the Thunder's books. Wallace will also be getting his pay raise next offseason, and both Ajay Mitchell and Jared McCain will be eligible for extensions.
This past offseason, Dort, Joe, and Wiggins were the obvious pieces to be moved. If Oklahoma City needs to shed salary next offseason, the onus shifts to contracts like Alex Caruso's ($20 million) and Isaiah Hartenstein's ($25 million). As important as Dort was to this team's championship run, he could be moved without essentially changing the fabric of this roster. Caruso and Hartenstein can't.
This may very well have been the final season where the Thunder were able to keep the true core of this championship team intact. If both Williams and Wallace are truly set to miss the remainder of this campaign, it will be a painfully lost opportunity.
Of course, the Thunder are positioned well to restock their talent through the draft or leverage those selections to bring in another star. But as soon as both Williams and Wallace went down in that matchup with Los Angeles, they officially came crashing down from the summit of the NBA.
It's going to take a lot of work to get back, and it's an ironic twist of fate that Los Angeles was the team to shift the Thunder's fortunes in this way—more than seven years after that fateful George trade.
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