In a season in which the playoffs and the Oklahoma City Thunder likely won’t meet, the Thunder need to look forward.
After Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s injury and Al Horford sitting for the rest of the season, it is clear what Sam Presti the Thunder are doing. It’s time to tank.
Without the playoffs in mind — here are four questions heading into the offseason:
What’s going on with Horford?
The Thunder failed to trade Horford before the trade deadline passed, so what is next? Horford has been shut down for the remainder of the 2020-2021 NBA season.
Sam Presti told Horford and his agent that he will work with them to find a trade partner that pleases both parties.
With that in mind, Horford will be gone going into next season.
My hopes are that OKC can, realistically, receive a salary cap filler and draft compensation in exchange for Horford.
One thing that may increase the trade difficulty on a Horford trade is his contract. Horford is on the books to be paid $53 million over the next two seasons.
Is it time to get aggressive?
Sam Presti has acquired enough draft picks to cover TWO full NBA rosters over the next 6 years.
It is safe to say that the Thunder does not need two NBA rosters. Crazy, right?
If the Thunder gets unlucky in the draft lottery, they would have more than enough assets to trade up in the draft to acquire a top-five pick. Trading future draft picks to get a high pick in this year’s draft would be more beneficial than holding onto the absurd amount of picks that they have.
So, yes, it is time to get aggressive.
No more vets?
This past year, the Thunder have traded away multiple vets for more and more assets. Assuming the Thunder move on from Horford, Mike Muscala, and Darius Miller, the Thunder would be out of vets.
With that being said, the young Thunder roster could use some vets.
At the end of free agency, there are some vets who did not end up being signed and could use a job. The Thunder could be a great team to sign a couple of vets that missed out on signings.
What should the Thunder do with so much cap space?
The Thunder will have the most cap space heading into the next offseason. To further the rebuild and pile more assets, the Thunder could be a team that takes on cap space from other teams, while asking for a young asset or draft compensation.
Taking on the extra cap from other teams just opens up more options for the Thunder long-term and flexibility with more trades.
In the end, this not only helps the Thunder’s rebuild, but it also helps whatever team is unloading cap on the Thunder. This would also help build a relationship between the two teams for future negotiations.
