The Oklahoma City Thunder enter the 2023-24 season with one of the brightest young cores headlined by All-NBA player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — to go along with their rich resources of draft picks and youthful talent.
These circumstances naturally lead to national pundits to wonder if it’s time for the Thunder to push their chips in and trade for win-now players. But it sounds like the Thunder will go against the grain and stay patient instead of acquiring outside talent.
In an interview with NBA writer Steve Aschburner, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault talked about the value of roster continuity and letting a core grow together. He cites how the Denver Nuggets had their best players for several seasons before they finally won a championship last season.
“Q:When will you know the time is right to go all in, push up in the standings, even add a piece from outside to complete the puzzle?
That’s a Sam [Presti] question. But we’re very excited about our existing young core. And last year was the first example of the power of continuity. Not only for us, but you look at Denver, who won a championship. Obviously, they’ve made roster changes over the years, but they’ve also got a lot of cumulative years together. That’s very important to us. That doesn’t mean we’ll never pursue external things. You’ve got to keep your eye on that, and Sam does. But we also value this group and the continuity they’re building together.”
This is a pretty sound answer that aligns with what the Thunder have preached during this rebuild — and really, since Sam Presti took over.
As a small market, the best chance for the Thunder to open a contending window is by developing talent on long-term controllable contracts. There’s no better example of that than the Thunder themselves as they were one of the winningest teams during the 2010s due to Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
Thus far, OKC has followed this to a tee once again with their recent string of draft success.
While trading for a superstar might be a possibility down the road, it’d be premature to go all in right now without ever giving this young core a season to prove itself.
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