SAC 119
OKC 117
CHA 85
MIN 93
SA 94
LAL 101
MEM 105
DEN 112
MIL 116
IND 93
GS 114
DAL 108
BKN 94
CHI 105
CLE 114
LAC 108
CHI 103
MIL 110
WAS 110
IND 103
LAL 102
GS 97
MIN 95
GS 88
NO 116
OKC 123
NY 96
LAC 97
TOR 109
ORL 116
NBA SIMS LEAGUE
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Apr 3 5:32 pm

NSL Insider - Team by Team: Oklahoma City Thunder

by Digeze, updated on Wednesday, November 06 2024, 06:09 am EST

 
Oklahoma City Team Review
 
2023-24 Finish: 47-35
 
Season Highlight:
After some mid-season injuries, things started clicking again for the Thunder to close out the year as they emerged from the Western Conference play-in to secure the 8th seed.  Unsatisfied with just notching a playoff appearance on their resume, the Thunder proceeded to take the #1 seed star studded LA Lakers team all the way to a Game 7 matchup.  The LA team spent the offseason attempting to dismantle their ageing roster while OKC’s future only looks brighter with their solidified young core.
 
Season Lowlight:
From a team perspective, the disjointed regular season with injuries hampering the true ability of the Thunder.  Trae missed 30 games, Okongwu missed 26 games, DeAndre Hunter missed 28 games (who was instrumental in the Lakers play-off series).  The Thunder showed they were very formidable when the whole band was together which probably should have had them up in 4-6 seed territory instead of fighting it out in the Play-in.
From a league perspective, the lowlight was the Game 7 loss against the Lakers.  I’m sure everyone outside of LA would love to see an 8 seed knockout a 1 seed.  Sooo close!
 
Best Trade:
The Atlanta Hawks send DeÁndre Hunter to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Atlanta Hawks send a 2nd-Rounder (Min) and 2nd-Rounder (Por) to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Oklahoma City Thunder send Buddy Hield to the Atlanta Hawks.
The Oklahoma City Thunder send a 1st-Rounder (NY) and 1st-Rounder (Utah) to the Atlanta Hawks.
There are bigger trades but this one is your classic trade up move.  Hield is a bit of an NSL journeyman already, having been on a third of the leagues rosters.  Hunter is a clear starter and ended up having a strong impact on the Thunder’s performance when he was healthy.
Ironically, Hunter has since been used in another similar trade up attempt.  However, this came after rollover so doesn’t qualify for this review.  
 
Worst Trade:
The Oklahoma City Thunder send Spencer Dinwiddie, Chet Holmgren and Keegan Murray to the Toronto Raptors.
The Oklahoma City Thunder send a 2nd-Rounder (Dal), 1st-Rounder (OKC), 1st-Rounder (LAL) and 2nd-Rounder (OKC) to the Toronto Raptors.
The Orlando Magic send Trae Young to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Orlando Magic send Tobias Harris to the Toronto Raptors.
The Toronto Raptors send Delon Wright, Dorian Finney-Smith, Zion Williamson and Josh Green to the Orlando Magic.
The Toronto Raptors send a 1st-Rounder (Utah) to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Toronto Raptors send a 1st-Rounder (Phi) to the Orlando Magic.
Valuing trades really is in the eye of the beholder.  Some may see this as the Thunder’s best trade while others scratch their heads.  This is why we can often see heated opinions shared in the chat when trades become official.  The Thunder bring in a (2K) star in Trae Young.  It costs them two starting calibre players still on rookie scale contracts, which is now gold in the NSL with the salary cap pressure of the league.  Also costs them a net lose in picks.  Trae is an undersized guard who will always struggle defensively but will put up points.  He is already getting paid star money!
To be fair, this deal was done before the season tipped-off and at that stage, Holmgren had sat our his entire rookie season and was yet to play a game.  The Thunder may have seen this as an injury risk they didn’t want to deal with.  He has gone on to show that he’ll likely be one of the premiere big men in the league.
Other Notable Trades:
The Minnesota Timberwolves send Kenrich Williams and Jaden Hardy to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Oklahoma City Thunder send Kevon Looney to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Oklahoma City Thunder send a 2nd-Rounder (Min) and 2nd-Rounder (OKC) to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Minnesota Timberwolves receive 5 GM points. The Oklahoma City Thunder trade -5 GM points. 
OKC needed to get to 14 players for a legal roster to start the season.

The Golden State Warriors send Buddy Hield to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Oklahoma City Thunder send Grant Williams and James Bouknight to the Phoenix Suns.
The Oklahoma City Thunder send a 2nd-Rounder (Por) to the Phoenix Suns.
The Phoenix Suns send Max Strus to the Golden State Warriors.
Bouknight got cut from the league, so it’s essentially Grant Williams and a 2nd for Buddy.  Hield ended up being a core piece in the trade up to DeAndre Hunter (who ended up being a core piece in the trade for Ayton) so some pretty astute trading from the OKC GM
 
 
Free Agency:
The Thunders last free agency was all about bringing back the big men.  Grant Williams was retained as an RFA and DeAndre Jordan was also convinced to return.  Big glitch type guys like Jordan usually attract a lot of attention is the NSL so the loyalty bonus would have been appreciated here.
This year coming, the Thunder have a bit of work to do in Free Agency.
They currently have 9 players contracted.
Once again, DeAndre Jordan will have a loyalty bonus so should be retained.
DaQuan Jefferies was a sign and trade so will have a small bonus should OKC want to keep him as a bench warmer.
Other than that, they have a pretty solid starting unit and will have the full MLE to work with.  They’ll be fighting with the other half of the league all looking to find some kind of bench depth in Free Agency.
Star:
Anthony Edwards



 
Trae might be the leading scorer but Anthony Edwards is unquestionably the player that the Thunder franchise should see as its centerpiece.  23 years old and was getting young Michael Jordan comparisons during the playoffs last season.  He has the skills, personality, athleticism and fire to be at the top of the player rankings for the next decade.
 
Flop:
Trae Young
This might be a little controversial but bare with me here.   Trae is the highest paid player on the team.  A large price (see above) was paid to bring him in.  He’s teetering on the edge of becoming a 90 rated player.  His shooting splits last season were a very impressive 55/49/96 in 33.4 mpg.  All this equates to him being among the scoring leaders in the NSL, right?  Nope, if he had of played enough games to qualify, it would rank him 32nd in scoring.  Not shooting enough is very unTrae-like, but that is his current fault coming out of last season.
Now the potential bright side here is that the upcoming season looks like being very friendly towards scoring guards.  Could we be about to see Trae Young fully unleashed?
 
 
Draft Grades:
N/A
Oklahoma sat out of this year’s draft.
 
The Future:
As always, the Western Conference is pretty ruthless in the NSL.  The Thunder look to throw themselves right into the mix this year by trusting development.  Their three best players - Edwards, Trae and Ayton, are all in their early to mid 20’s.  They are only improving and OKC will be hoping the positive updates keep coming thick and fast. 
If they can pick up some serviceable depth in Free Agency I see them fighting for a home court spot in the playoffs.

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