Unlike last summer, when they snatched up Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency and struck on the Alex Caruso trade with the Chicago Bulls, the OKC Thunder opted to shy away from making any outsourced additions this offseason and, instead, shifted their focus to locking down their in-house talents for the foreseeable future.
With the lofty max extensions given to the Big Three of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren, and the under-the-radar signings that will keep guys like Jaylin Williams and Ajay Mitchell in tow on multi-year pacts, Oklahoma City is slated to run things back with a roster filled with players who logged 99.2 percent of the team’s postseason minutes during the 2025 title run.
At this point, it's apparent that this Thunder team is pursuing its dynastic aspirations with rotational continuity at the forefront of its approach. With this, it makes the front office's in-season plans and trade deadline agenda crystal clear.
Thunder are not likely to be active with in-season trades
As has been the case throughout the Sam Presti era, the Thunder have not been a club all that keen on making many in-season shakeups.
The storied GM has even gone on record somewhat denigrating the whole concept of trade deadline dealings, as he said ahead of this past campaign that "external solutions always bring with them a lot of risk."
Considering their track record throughout the years, coupled with the fact that they spent this summer solidifying all 15 roster spots heading into 2025-26, the expectation moving forward should be that the Thunder, as currently constructed, will largely be the same come season's end.
Though perhaps not the most exciting thing to hear for thrill-seeking fans, by all accounts, it seems to be the most logical course of action.
After all, we're talking about a team that, even at sub-full strength for the majority of the year (dealt with myriad injuries right out of the gates in 2024-25), still managed to rattle off 68 wins on the season, put forth one of the most overall dominant runs the game has ever seen, and, of course, went on to take home the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
Now, of course, specific factors such as injuries could theoretically alter these expected plans of dormancy between now and the February 5 trade deadline.
However, as things currently stand, the Thunder are enviably set up to the point where, even with the minimal changes they've made to their talent pool this summer, they're still coming into the year with the best odds to win the 2026 NBA Championship.
Why should they feel any urge to change things?