Isaiah HartensteinRon Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images
Notable Losses: Josh Giddey
Notable Additions: Alex Caruso, Isaiah Hartenstein, Nikola Topić and Dillon Jones
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.
Size, or lack thereof, was a big one throughout this past regular season and playoffs. Part of what makes the Thunder so difficult to beat is their ability to stretch defenses and play real five-out basketball, but hefty front lines could punish them on the glass.
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 size of his contract (three years, $87 million) raised some eyebrows, but now is the time for OKC to pay something like that. The deal is relatively short, and the Thunder could use his salary for matching purposes in trades.
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, and he won’t take many (if any) on-ball opportunities away from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams.
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.
