Thunderous Intentions
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Ranking Thunder 'who might be gone' by likelihood of departure

There are a few OKC Thunder players ESPN's Bobby Marks projects "might be gone" come next season. Today, we rank them from least to most likely to depart.

By Mark Nilon

Jan 8, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault (M) watches as Thunder forward Jalen Williams (8) passes the ball to Thunder guard Josh Giddey (3) against the Washington Wizards in the second quarter at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 8, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault (M) watches as Thunder forward Jalen Williams (8) passes the ball to Thunder guard Josh Giddey (3) against the Washington Wizards in the second quarter at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
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1. Gordon Hayward

The OKC Thunder tried to make a significant splash and talent addition mid-way through this past campaign by striking a deal with the Charlotte Hornets for veteran forward, Gordon Hayward.

At the time, such a trade seemed to be a great move for the franchise to make, as he's a former All-Star who, over the previous three seasons, had averaged 17.6 points per game on 39.6 percent shooting from deep and was amid a first-half stretch in 2023-24 where he was posting 14.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game on 46.8 percent shooting from the floor and 36.1 percent shooting from deep.

Of course, fast forward roughly four months later, and the one-time "no-brainer" deal is now looked upon as a complete and utter failure.

Now, to be fair to Hayward, it's never an easy task for a player to learn an entirely different scheme and develop chemistry with new teammates on the fly, especially when coming aboard a team that was already firing on all cylinders like the Thunder were upon his entry.

That said, none of this takes away from the fact that he never managed to find a way to grow comfortable within coach Mark Daigneault's system or while running with his OKC cohorts, and his counting stats certainly didn't do him any favors either.

In 26 regular season games, Hayward went on to average just 5.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 17.2 minutes a night and registered a -2.6 box plus-minus, per Basketball Reference.

He would follow this productivity up with even worse numbers during the playoffs (0.0 points and 1.9 rebounds) before, ultimately, being cut from the rotation entirely during their final three games of action.

Add all this to the fact that Hayward has criticized his usage on the team since Oklahoma City's season came to an end and that Presti himself has even gone on record to say that he "missed" on the exchange, and it seems all but certain that the 34-year-old will wind up being just a half-season rental for the ball club.

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