The Oklahoma City Thunder and the burden of building the right way

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It should come as no surprise the Oklahoma City Thunder have become a full-fledged championship contender and one of the most dynamic teams in the NBA.

The organization initiated a retooling process when it shipped Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2019, acquiring current MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and fully leaned into building through the draft two years later, by both using the enormous draft capital that came from the Clippers and additional selections via the Russell Westbrook trade to Houston, also in 2019.

The result has only made it that much more appealing for teams to build through the draft, as the Thunder have made the most of their opportunities by selecting Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, both of whom are now rounding out Oklahoma City’s Big 3 with Gilgeous-Alexander.

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During their rebuilding years, the Thunder swung a lot. They hit some and missed others. That was always going to happen. General manager Sam Presti fully realized that the path to success when building through the draft was through volume.

The more bites at the apple, the better.

What has happened since establishing the Big 3 is interesting. The Thunder kind of kept hitting.

(Stefan Milic/Yahoo Sports illustration)

They used Josh Giddey, a former sixth overall selection they realized was good, but never good enough to start for them long term, to acquire Alex Caruso from Chicago, adding one of the league’s best role players and defenders to a team that already had plenty of star power.

They struck gold with a draft-day deal for Cason Wallace, a younger Caruso clone who has the potential to be even better offensively.

Aaron Wiggins, drafted 55th overall in 2021, is now playing over 22 minutes per night.

Even outside the draft, the team nailed a low-risk signing in Isaiah Joe in 2022 after he was waived by Philadelphia. Joe is now playing over 20 minutes per game for the Thunder.

And finally, they signed Isaiah Hartenstein as a free agent last summer to simply round out their center depth and further demonstrate to the league at large that they’re…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2025-03-12 16:02:00

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