Offseason Report Card: Thunder get three As, three Bs and two Cs for summer moves

Full offseason report card and grade

The Oklahoma City Thunder took a lot of cap space and draft capital and turned it into Alex Caruso, Isaiah Hartenstein, and three draft picks. Did they make the most of their assets?

Traded for Alex Caruso

Grade: A

Re-signed Isaiah Joe

Grade: A

Signed Isaiah Hartenstein

Grade: A-

Re-signed Aaron Wiggins

Grade: B+

Drafted Nikola Topic

Grade: B

Drafted Ajay Mitchell

Grade: B-

Traded Lindy Waters III

Grade: C+

Drafted Dillon Jones

Grade: C

Overall Grade

The Oklahoma City Thunder would be better equipped to win the 2025 NBA Championship if they had signed Paul George.

That's the reality the Thunder had to grapple with this summer, as no other free agent was on the level that George was.

He is a top-15 player in the league, has a skillset that scales extremely well alongside other stars and has a preexisting and positive relationship with the franchise. His impact on this next season would be significant.

He also would have been making well north of $50 million when new contracts come due for Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, and then Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

At that point, the team would have rocketed above the second tax apron.

Whether or not the Thunder ever seriously considered clearing the space to sign George, the ability to maintain future flexibility clearly impacted their moves this summer.

If George was off the table, their moves this summer represent an extremely solid approach to maximizing their financial flexibility over the next two seasons and not handcuffing themselves past that point. Hartenstein gives them a type of player they simply didn't have last season, while Alex Caruso is an insanely valuable addition to their rotation. The two are clearly in the top 10 players to change teams this summer.

Their work in the draft is a bit more questionable, as they neither traded either of the first-round picks for veteran help nor used either pick on players likely to help now. The reasoning for taking Nikola Topic is more obvious than that of Dillon Jones, but both will take some time to return any level of investment on their selections.

The sharp plan to decline the team options for Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins was both expected and well executed, and overall they are set up to be deep and good for a very long time. This was a highly successful offseason, and the Thunder are the deserving favorites in the Western Conference after a summer in which they had the best offseason of any West contender.

Grade: A-