3 Moves the Thunder must make after signing Isaiah Hartenstein

3. Find a secondary ball-handler, offensive creator

This summer, the Thunder parted ways with arguably their best set-up artist in Josh Giddey, as he was sent out to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for 3-and-D wing, Alex Caruso.

While the transaction certainly helps Oklahoma City address their questionable three-point shooting abilities -- they may have led the league in long-range percentage last year but ranked a middling 16 in attempts per game and shot just 33.5 percent against the Mavs in the playoffs --, it cost them their most trusted ball-handler and offensive distributor outside of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

With their decision to draft Nikola Topic at 12 overall during the 2024 NBA Draft, it's evident that the front office sees this quality as something they wish to have within their arsenal moving forward, though, considering he's likely to miss the entire 2024-25 campaign while rehabbing from a partially torn ACL, they may look to add a short-term commodity who can provide such intangibles while he's out.

Available on the open market is Kyle Lowry, a veteran point guard who have dished out 6.8 assists per game over the last six years and boasts a championship pedigree. While the Thunder wouldn't be able to offer him a starting nod like other teams such as the Phoenix Suns may, there's a strong argument to be made that they would provide him with his best odds of claiming title number two.

Should he be willing to take a pay-cut and a lesser role, he could be a solid addition to OKC's already lethal rotation.