The Oklahoma City Thunder will enter training camp with some tough decisions to make before the start of the 2023-24 regular season.
The Thunder are carrying the maximum allowed 21 players on their roster during the offseason. This doesn’t include the three two-way spots.
By the end of preseason, the Thunder will need to trim that number to 15 full-time players and three two-way players for a total of 18. This means OKC will need to cut six of the 21 players currently signed.
Depending on how much money ownership is willing to burn, some easy cut/trade candidates include veterans on expiring deals such as Victor Oladipo, Rudy Gay, Jack White and possibly even Davis Bertans, who is owed at least $5 million in 2024-25.
Recently acquired players TyTy Washington Jr. and Usman Garuba are likely next in line when it comes to being on the chopping block. Both were acquired as a tax for second-round draft picks and are still on their rookie scale deal.
No matter the end result, the Thunder will let go several players who could have a market. Heck, it’s already been reported Washington Jr. and Garuba have multiple suitors.
Besides the obvious candidates, the Thunder might need to swallow the bitter pill of letting go of talented young players that are near the bottom of position logjams, such as Tre Mann.
Despite an impressive summer league campaign, the numbers might force OKC’s hand. Mann is behind several other guards on the depth chart.
With so much talent on the back end of the OKC roster, multiple teams are keeping an eye on the Thunder to see who they let go. Spotrac’s Keith Smith reported that at least two teams are monitoring OKC’s situation.
“Some good players are going to get cut from OKC and we all need to be ready to jump when that happens,” Smith said an executive told him.
I talked to two different teams this morning and both independently mentioned that they are monitoring the Thunder and what happens with the roster.
One exec told me "Some good players are going to get cut from OKC and we all need to be ready to jump when that happens."
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) July 19, 2023
The Thunder have an abundance of young talent. As they continue to add new waves of draft classes, players from previous drafts still on their rookie deal could see their OKC tenures prematurely end.
If this happens, the Thunder will likely attempt to see if they could flip their young talent for additional future draft assets. These are the type of good problems teams have when they’re exceptional at targeting and developing talent through the draft.
