2 Truths, 1 lie concerning the Thunder ahead of 2024-25 season

The OKC Thunder have been a hot-topic team for the better part of the past year, especially throughout this offseason.

After surprising the masses and rattling off 57 wins, claiming the number one seed out West, and winning their first playoff series in nearly a decade in 2023-24, this dominant Oklahoma City squad managed to make themselves even more menacing thanks to the maneuvers made by Sam Presti and company this past summer.

From striking gold on the deal that landed them Alex Caruso from the Chicago Bulls to signing highly-touted big man Isaiah Hartenstein on the open market, the Thunder have seemingly made their squad even stronger, and the odds-makers appear to be buying the hype surrounding them heading into 2024-25.

However, though the chatter concerning the organization has been quite loud and consistent, not all that's been spoken seems to be based in reality.

Truths and lies relating to the OKC Thunder ahead of 2024-25 season

Truth: Thunder addressed a major rotational weakness this offseason

Oklahoma City may have finished with the best record in the Western Conference last year, but this is not to say that they weren't without glaring weaknesses.

Easily the most concerning was their lack of size within the frontcourt, as they boasted a rotation that saw just two regularly utilized players who measured in at 6-foot-9 or taller, while their biggest talent in the 7-foot-1, Chet Holmgren weighed in at a mere 207 pounds soaking wet.

This shortage in the size department was one that many fans and pundits feared could lead to the club's downfall, and, ultimately, they were proven right as the Thunder were completely outmuscled and bullied against the bigger and bulkier Dallas Mavericks during their six-game demise in round two of the playoffs.

As a way to address this discrepancy, the front office attacked the free agency market early and with extreme ferocity, as they shelled out a whopping $87 million to secure the talents of the 7-foot, 249-pound Isaiah Hartenstein on day two of the festivities.

A soon-to-be seven-year veteran, the 26-year-old has made a career for himself as a result of his tough-nosed style of play that's predicated on attacking the glass, defending the rim, and setting hard and efficient screens for his teammates.

Last season, Hartenstein saw a career-high number of starts (49) with the New York Knicks, and proceeded to drop career-best averages of 8.7 points, 9.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.2 blocks while shooting 66.3 percent from the field in such a role.

With him in tow, the Thunder have created a menacing new 7-foot tandem down in the frontcourt, which not only seems to eradicate all fears of their team's lacking size, but also provides much-needed strength, muscle, and overall edge to a lineup that could have seriously used all of the above last season.

Truth: Nikola Topic could realistically be steal of the 2024 NBA Draft

The Thunder exited from the 2024 NBA Draft with a total of three rookies selected, two of which came in the first round.

Though the season is still over a month away from tipping off and, in turn, we have yet to see how any of these first-year ballers will wind up performing in the league, there already seems to be a rather realistic chance that Oklahoma City may have come away from the festivities with the steal of this specific class.

With the 12 selection on the night, Sam Presti and company opted to snatch up Nikola Topic, a Serbian-born point guard who, by all indications, is expected to be sidelined for the entirety of this coming year as he rehabs from a partially torn ACL.

Prior to his knee injury, many believed that the 19-year-old would have been a possible contender to be taken with the number one pick on draft night -- or at least within the top-five slots -- as his ball-handling skills, court vision, and nifty finishing abilities packaged together into a 6-foot-6 frame are all attributes that bottom feeder teams generally covet in a potential building block.

Of course, with the fact that he's projected to be out all of 2024-25, the vast majority of these top of the board teams are not in a position where they can afford to red-shirt a lottery selection.

The Thunder, however, are the lone exception.

The franchise just recently found a great deal of success when taking the wait-and-see approach with a top-flight prospect (Chet Holmgren missed all of 2021-22 with a foot injury, then went on to serve as a top-three option on a legitimate title threat during his first season of eligibility in 2023-24), and it seems they are trying to try their luck again with the likes of Topic.

Grabbing a potential number one pick in the back half of the lottery is always viewed as a high potential outcome for an organization.

Lie: The Thunder added 'the one thing they were missing' with Hartenstein signing

Recently, Fox Sports analyst Ric Bucher made a rather strong statement that the signing of Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency "gives them the one thing they were missing last year aside from experience."

While it may be true that the big man provides the club with some necessary bulk to their frontcourt unit, size was far from the only thing this Thunder team was missing.

Though perhaps not as prominent of an issue, they seemed to be without any reliable and consistent secondary offensive creators behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Sure, their current second in command, Jalen Williams may have dropped a career-high 19.1 points on 54.0 percent shooting from the floor and 42.7 percent from distance in 2023-24, but under the bright lights in round two of the playoffs when most needed he converted on just 42.4 percent from the field while only 38.5 percent of his makes came unassisted.

Should it be assumed that, heading into year three, he can find a way to add more to his bag of tricks and become that much-needed second offensive initiator? Yes, but this does not mean that it's guaranteed.

On top of this, the Thunder may have added a much better-fitting two guard next to SGA with the trade acquisition of Alex Caruso, but, in the process, it cost them easily their best dime dropper and distributor in Josh Giddey, who was shipped out to the Bulls in the swap.

Now, Oklahoma City is left with a ton of combo backcourt talents and zero pure one guards.

Sure, this club is without question one of the most well-rounded in the entire league and only managed to get even better with their summer decision-making but to say size was "the one thing they were missing" is somewhat of a farce.