Following the week-long All-Star break, the OKC Thunder are slated to jump back into regular season action with a Friday night bout against the Utah Jazz out in Salt Lake City.
Despite being decimated by widespread injuries, through 54 games played Oklahoma City has established themselves as the "It team" of the NBA.
From ranking number one in the Western Conference standings and registering in with the greatest net rating in league history to being tied for the best record in the association at 44-10, this ball club has been firing on all cylinders through four months of play.
Now, with the recent return of star big Chet Holmgren and the much-needed rest that Alex Caruso received, the Thunder are expected to get even better during this second half of the year as coach Mark Daigneault will have more quality rotational pieces to work with.
Of course, with more talent options comes more opportunities to experiment with lineups and, based on recent speculation, many believe the coaching staff will now look to tinker with rotations rather frequently during their final 28-game stretch run.
With this in mind, there are a number of players who could find their roles changing throughout the remainder of the regular season, as some could very well become regular fixtures within the starting five while others could be heading to the second unit.
Aaron Wiggins
Before heading into last week's mid-season pause, Aaron Wiggins was amid a mesmerizing breakout run.
Over an eight-game span, the wing found himself dropping sensational averages of 20.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.0 steals on 54.4 percent shooting from the floor and 45.3 percent shooting from distance.
Along the way, he even set a new career-high in points and rebounds with 41 and 14, respectively, during a February 1 win over the Sacramento Kings, while the Thunder went 7-1 overall and 6-0 with him serving in a starting role.
With Chet Holmgren now officially back in the fold, coach Daigneault may have a desire to run more of a five-out offensive-focused lineup that slides the studly sophomore down to the five and All-Star Jalen Williams to the four, leaving an opening at the small forward position.
Considering his recent surge, the idea of slotting a guy of Wiggins' caliber in at the three should be strongly considered.
Isaiah Joe
Though Aaron Wiggins has proven himself worthy of being promoted to full-time starter status, there is also a case to be made that his expertise and offensive skill set may be best suited in a sixth-man role off the pine, as the Thunder bench has severely struggled to generate consistent offense this season, ranking just 18 in points per game and 21 in field goal percentage.
With this in mind, should Oklahoma City still be interested in the previously mentioned shakeup with Holmgren at center and J-Dub at power forward, the logical next-man-up option in the running for the starting small forward spot should be Isaiah Joe.
While he may not be putting forth the electrifying production that Wiggins has as of late, in many ways, the 25-year-old boasts the same type of complementary play style, as he's a trusty two-way wing who's a highly efficient scorer off the catch (64.9 effective field goal percentage) and doesn't require too many touches in order to be impactful on the floor.
Especially if coach Daigneault desires to run a five-out lineup, Joe's dead-eye shooting from beyond the arc (39.5 percent) could be a tremendous add to the starting rotation.
Isaiah Hartenstein
Of course, for the Thunder to construct a five-out lineup, it would require the old-school Isaiah Hartenstein to be relegated to a bench role which, considering how well he's produced throughout his debut season in the Sooner State, seems somewhat unfair.
With him in the fold, Oklahoma City has managed to more than stay afloat during Chet Holmgren's multi-month injury-induced absence, as they rank number one in opponent points in the paint, third in opponent field goal percentage within less than five feet, and sixth in blocks while the 26-year-old has placed second behind only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the team in plus-minus at +8.9.
On top of this, Hartenstein has been dropping career-best averages of 11.1 points, 11.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.1 blocks while shooting 56.5 percent from the floor.
However, now with their cornerstone center Holmgren's recent return, the experiment with the two of these bigs slotting into the starting lineup together has proven to be somewhat clunky from both an offensive and turnover perspective.
Though even Chet has chalked these mishaps up to mere learning curves, perhaps the coaching staff may prefer to just revert back to their small-ball starting five rather than continuing to put the twin-tower lineup on the floor.
While some fans may want to see how Holmgren and Hartenstein could fair together once they start to build chemistry, staggering the two could actually be highly beneficial in the sense that the Thunder could theoretically find themselves with a 7-footer on the court at all times throughout a game.