Ranking 3 major NBA storylines by their impact on the Thunder this season

The OKC Thunder may have been quite busy this summer what with GM Sam Presti's wheeling and dealing ways, but they were far from the only franchise that endured significant shakeups.

Since the 2023-24 campaign concluded roughly four months ago, the league has seen a slew of moves made. From savvy free agency signings to splashy blockbuster trades, this past offseason has been one filled with excitement and non-stop buzz.

And while Oklahoma City may have been a team that dipped their toes into several different verticals to better their odds of contending for the Larry O'Brien Trophy heading into 2024-25, so, too, did a number of other teams throughout this stretch.

Now, though many of these transactions are projected to have little to no impact on this title-favorite Thunder squad heading into the upcoming season, there are a few, in particular, that could end up having some sort of ripple effect on the franchise.

Ranking major NBA storylines by their potential impact on Thunder

3. Timberwolves trading Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks

The most recent, and possibly biggest move made this offseason was the blockbuster trade between the Timberwolves and Knicks that sent All-Star big, Karl-Anthony Towns to New York in exchange for All-NBA forward, Julius Randle and spark plug shooting guard, Donte DiVincenzo.

To many, this exchange for Minnesota was more influenced by financial incentives in the long term rather than immediately improving the team for win-now purposes.

They netted the expiring contract of Randle and the highly affordable three-year, $36 million left on DiVincenzo's deal while ridding themselves of Town's ascending four-year pact that will pay him as much as $61 million in 2027-28.

Though the T-Wolves did, indeed, bring back some seriously impressive ballers in the trade to now pair alongside budding superstar Anthony Edwards and stud center Rudy Gobert, and are still entering 2024-25 as the Western Conference runner-ups, at least in the immediate aftermath, they could realistically find themselves taking a step backward in the success department.

What will the regression in floor spacing at the starting four spot (Towns shoots 39.8 percent from deep for his career compared to Randle's 33.3 clip) do to Minnesota's scheme? How quickly can this team build chemistry with less than a month to go till opening night? Will the two ball-dominant talents in Edwards and Randle be able to co-exist?

While there's a strong possibility that this move can go on to help the Timberwolves remain flexible and competitive for the foreseeable future, during this coming season we could see some growing pains associated with them getting accustomed to life after KAT, which, in turn, could mean there's one-less team the Thunder might have to worry about contending for a top spot out West.

2. Klay Thompson signing with the Dallas Mavericks

Though the Thunder may be coming into the 2024-25 campaign boasting the second-best odds of winning the NBA Finals, trailing only the reigning champion Boston Celtics, still fresh on every fan's mind is their second-round demise against the eventual conference champs, the Dallas Mavericks.

Following their six-game defeat in the semifinals, Oklahoma City seemingly took it upon themselves to improve in the areas that Dallas took advantage of en route to advancing, particularly relating to their size department.

After being manhandled left and right by the likes of Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford, they opted to bolster their previously featherweight frontcourt by signing 7-foot, 249-pound pivot, Isaiah Hartenstein on day two of free agency.

While such an addition is undeniably one that makes this frontline more menacing, unfortunately, the Thunder are not the only ones out of the two clubs to have made a sizeable, talent pool-bolstering move this summer, as the Mavericks also went about and addressed a significant hole in their rotation out on the wing by inking five-time All-Star and four-time champion, Klay Thompson.

With the 34-year-old's arrival, Jason Kidd's arsenal has only become more fleshed out and well-rounded. Having the expertise and two-way skills of the future Hall of Famer slotted in next to the likes of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving is something that could be a serious problem for opposing teams to square off against.

Though Thompson may technically be in the latter stages of his career, let's not pretend that averages of 17.9 points on 38.7 percent shooting from deep last season are something to scoff at.

So while Thunder fans should still be confident in their team's improved make-up, they should be well aware of the fact that the team that wound up bouncing them from last year's playoff race also managed to get better this summer.

1. Paul George leaving the LA Clippers and signing with Philadelphia

Arguably the biggest move made in free agency this summer was Paul George's decision to leave the LA Clippers after five seasons and ink a lucrative four-year, $212 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers.

While on the surface, such a shakeup could be seen as beneficial for the Thunder in the sense that, when healthy, Los Angeles' core trio of George, Kawhi Leonard, and James Harden was considered a dark-horse threat to contend for the Conference crown, when digging deeper into the current state of the franchise, it only unveils a deeper, more luxurious possible ripple effect for OKC.

As fans likely remember, George arrived in La La Land back in 2019 via a trade with Oklahoma City.

Over the years since, this exchange has been highly celebrated as it landed the team their current cornerstone, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

However, along with the superstar, it brought a bevy of draft capital aboard, which includes an unprotected first-round pick swap for the 2025 NBA Draft.

Considering SGA and company are expected to be in the running for a championship come year's end, their pick for next year's draft is projected to be near the end of the board and, thus, holds a lesser level of value.

However, with their rights to swap selections with LA, there's a realistic possibility that they could not only find themselves winning the NBA Finals but also gearing up for the league's first repeat since 2012 with a lottery-selected rookie added to their arsenal.

With the Clippers' extensive injury history and the fact that Leonard already finds himself heading into the new season with a knee ailment, there's a real shot that they end up missing out on the playoffs altogether come year's end (like they did back in 2022 due to all their injury woes), which, in turn, would land them in the lottery.

Losing their clear second option in George this summer only increases the odds of such a scenario and, should this wind up being the case and the Thunder opt to swap picks heading into draft day, their decision to trade the perennial All-Star back in 2019 could wind up easily being viewed as the gift that keeps on giving.