Thunder offseason primer: The ultimate buyers in a buyer's market
In posting a 57-25 regular season record and winning the first seed in the Western Conference, the quality of the Oklahoma City Thunder was known to all. But in the playoffs, they showed they were still at least one year away.
With a loss in Game 6 of their second-round series in the 2024 NBA playoffs to the Dallas Mavericks, the Thunder’s season has ended earlier than they would like. But the good news is that their offseason now begins. And over the last few seasons, this has been where the franchise has done its best work.
Since dismantling the last days of the Russell Westbrook era, the Thunder have embarked on an unabashed strategy of asset accumulation, acquiring a historic level of future draft picks by utilizing their minimal financial commitments at a time of tremendous salary cap growth to leverage assets from other teams. Concurrent with this, they have had several big successes in the draft, not least of which was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a Top 10 NBA player and cornerstone of what makes them a contender now.
To have a team good enough for 57 wins and the best collection of assets for further reinforcements is a privileged position. And although coming up short this year is understandable, given the relative inexperience of the core, it is now time to convert all that into titles.
With this in mind, here follows a look at the Oklahoma City Thunder’s roster and spending heading into the 2024 NBA offseason.