The OKC Thunder head into the upcoming season as one of the most talented teams the NBA has to offer.
From star and star-caliber cornerstones like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren to sensational role players such as Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins, 2023-24 proved that Oklahoma City boasts arguably the deepest units in the entire league and, following their slew of offseason moves, excitingly enough their claim for such a title has grown even stronger.
While this is without question one of the most enviable positions for a franchise to find itself in, at least from a coaching perspective it could cause a bit of confusion and quite a number of headaches when it comes to finding ways to properly set up a regular rotation.
Once their 15-man roster is officially set, there are likely to be somewhere between 10-13 players who are more than deserving of seeing consistent and extensive minutes on a nightly basis.
Of course, being there are only 48 minutes in a regulation game, distributing playing time properly may prove to be a true conundrum for coach Mark Daigneault.
On top of this, each team is allotted just five players to slot into a starting lineup, and, in truth, there are roughly seven or eight different individuals on this roster who have a strong case to be used in such a unit.
Though it’s as safe of a claim as it gets that all three of SGA, J-Dub, and Chet will be running out in the first five lineup in 2024-25, the remaining two openings are rather hard to pin down to any individual talent.
Because of this, despite what their past roles may have been during their tenures in the association, there are a few players, in particular, who, though are worthy enough of claiming a starting nod, may fall on the outside looking in on one this coming season.