The Athletic ranks OKC Thunder offseason as 9th best in the league
The Athletic’s David Aldridge ranked all 30 NBA teams in terms of the offseason they had. With NBA training camps starting this month, all of the major moves are done as the league prepares to kick off the 2022-23 regular season in October.
Aldridge ranked the Oklahoma City Thunder’s offseason ninth. The only outside additions were from the 2022 NBA draft, and the team extended Lu Dort and Kenrich Williams.
“A brutal, brutal blow to the Thunder for this coming season with the loss of Holmgren, who injured himself in Jamal Crawford’s Pro-Am League in Seattle in August. But, OKC’s years of asset-flipping look like they’ve, potentially, produced a true core group that can grow together – at least, starting in ’23-’24. Dort and Kenrich Williams have joined Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on long-term extensions; Josh Giddey and Holmgren will certainly join them in a couple of years. And the Thunder still controls an always-replenishing stockpile of future firsts (not even counting pick swaps, OKC still has four first-round picks, including its own, in 2024; three firsts in ’25 and three firsts in ’26). With Holmgren lost, though, the more important of all those picks may be next summer. If OKC tanks again next season, it might wind up with Victor Wembanyama as the ultimate consolation prize.”
This is a pretty solid ranking for the Thunder. Chet Holmgren being out for the entire season is devastating news, but it shouldn’t impact the team long term. Outside of that massive blow, the Thunder have had a solid summer with adding three other rookies, including two more lottery picks in Ousmane Dieng and Jalen Williams.
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