The calendar will soon flip to August, which means most of the big offseason moves have already been made by NBA teams. Following the draft and free agency, most rosters are set.
This allows Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey to hand out offseason grades for all 30 NBA teams.
As one can expect, the Oklahoma City Thunder had a high result. They had a productive offseason headlined by the additions of Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso. OKC received an A for its efforts.
“The Oklahoma City Thunder may well have had the best offseason in the NBA.
They’re already among the youngest teams in the league and are coming off a first-place finish in the West. This summer, they addressed their glaring weaknesses…
Adding Isaiah Hartenstein gives the Thunder the option to pivot when necessary, and it’s reasonable to believe Hartenstein and the more perimeter-oriented Chet Holmgren can even play together…
The other weakness was Josh Giddey’s struggles as an outside shooter, which made him an easy option to sag off of. Alex Caruso will punish opposing defenses that choose to pack the paint rather than close out to his open catches.”
Bailey even mentioned their draft haul. The Thunder swung with Nikola Topic, who fell in draft boards because of a torn ACL that will keep him out next season. OKC has the luxury of waiting out his recovery.
“Add to those additions the team-friendly contracts for Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins, as well the pick of Nikola Topić (perhaps this class’ best playmaker) in the draft, and this is an easy A even though Topić figures to miss this season while recovering from a torn ACL.”
The Thunder entered the offseason with over $30 million in cap space and used it wisely to improve their roster. Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams are on bargain deals for the next two seasons, so they took advantage of the added payroll to spend.
