The Oklahoma City Thunder enter another offseason where improvement will likely come from inside of the house and the only outside additions will come from the draft.
After surpassing expectations last season with a 40-42 record, one win shy of a playoff appearance, the Thunder look to build upon that next season with their young core.
In terms of offseason tools, the Thunder have (per HoopsHype):
- Cap space: $30-37 million
- Room mid-level exception: $7.6 million
- Four trade exceptions ($4.2 million, $3.5 million, $943,800 and $781,759) that would be renounced for cap space
Another avenue the Thunder could take to improve their roster is trading. If the Thunder are truly committed to improving their roster in the immediate future, they have plenty of trade candidates they could use on their roster.
For this exercise, let’s rank every member on the Thunder roster by what their trade tier is.
Untouchable: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Josh Giddey
The Thunder have one of the league’s brightest futures, and that can be attributed to this quartet.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is coming off a career season in which he was named an All-NBA first-team member. Jalen Williams finished No. 2 in Rookie of the Year. Chet Holmgren was taken No. 2 in last year’s draft. And Josh Giddey’s lived up to his No. 6 selection in 2021.
These four are the core of the next era of OKC basketball. Perhaps that changes over time, but for now, these four are untouchable.
Open for right price: Lu Dort, Kenrich Williams, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins
While these four are all good rotation players and starters, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they were moved.
There will definitely be a market for these four players if the Thunder made them available. After that, it’s OKC’s job to evaluate and see if any hypothetical package would be worth it.
Lu Dort and Kenrich Williams, who are signed to multiyear deals, will likely demand the strongest market. Both are solid starting wings on respectable salaries.
On the bubble: Aleksej Poksevski, Tre Mann, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Lindy Waters III
The clock is ticking for this quartet of Thunder players.
With OKC adding at least two rookies, roster spots are becoming a premium. If push comes to shove, these four players could be the first to go to make space.
Aleksej Pokusevski enters the final year of his rookie deal, which means the Thunder will need to make a decision on his future. Tre Mann and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl are about to enter their third season after essentially being out of the rotation last year. Lindy Waters III is a two-way player that recently converted to a full-time NBA player on a cheap salary.
Too soon to tell: Ousmane Dieng, Jaylin Williams
Coming off their rookie seasons, it’s too soon to make a decision on this pair of forwards.
Considering what the Thunder gave up to acquire Ousmane Dieng, they’ll likely give him multiple years to figure it out. Meanwhile, Jaylin Williams went from an end-of-the-bench piece to OKC’s starting center by the end of the season.
Both players provide different levels of intrigue, so the Thunder will look to keep both to see if they can build off their rookie campaigns.
