The Oklahoma City Thunder may not have made the NBA Finals last year, but they are still one of the best teams in the NBA with one of the best players in the NBA: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. And based on the latest LeBron James update, SGA better hope the Thunder fall into the “not interested” category.
During a recent edition of The Hoop Collective podcast, it was revealed that Rich Paul – James’ long-time agent – told Brian Windhorst that 27 teams around the league have called to inquire about James. Though James is still playing at a very high level, SGA should be hoping that the Thunder are one of the two teams that haven’t shown an interest in James.
OKC doesn’t need James, and he would be a very weird addition from a financial perspective as well.
SGA better hope Thunder haven't inquired about LeBron James
Though he’s already 41 years old, James is still playing at an All-Star level. He’s one of the best players in the league, and in the right situation, he could really help a team contend for a title.
But the Thunder’s roster already has a very clear composition. SGA leads the way, Jalen Williams falls in line right behind him, and then guys like Chet Holmgren, Ajay Mitchell, and even Jared McCain help with the offense after that.
James would inevitably find a role in Oklahoma City. He could take over some secondary ball-handling duties behind SGA, but the spacing and defense would be less than ideal.
Plus, OKC already had to do a ton of work this summer to shed some salary, so paying money to bring James on board would see them go in the wrong direction in that regard.
At the end of the day, though they didn’t win it all this year (or even make the Finals), the Thunder just don’t need James. They are already one of the best teams in the league, and adding another ball-dominant guy like James could actually hurt them.
It seems very likely that the Thunder were one of the teams that did not call about adding James this summer. It wouldn’t really fit the timeline they are working with, nor their general team-building ideology from the past few years.
OKC is running it back again. The Thunder have made small tweaks in recent years, but for the most part, they’ve kept their same core. And it’s clear that the core is good enough to compete.
So, SGA should be hoping that they keep doing that instead of trying to add a guy like James.
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