2024-2025 OKC Thunder Games Thread

[Dadouv47]

You seem to love Dillon Jones

He never crosses my mind, but now that you bring him up he has three more years of guaranteed contract.

still an easy contract to trade and I woud rather develop a guy picked at #15 or higher than keeping him.

[Kizz Fastfists]

You seem to love Dillon Jones

He never crosses my mind, but now that you bring him up he has three more years of guaranteed contract.

still an easy contract to trade and I woud rather develop a guy picked at #15 or higher than keeping him.

Package him with Wiggins, Kenrich, Dieng and draft picks for a real player.

[Dadouv47]

He never crosses my mind, but now that you bring him up he has three more years of guaranteed contract.

still an easy contract to trade and I woud rather develop a guy picked at #15 or higher than keeping him.

Package him with Wiggins, Kenrich, Dieng and draft picks for a real player.

Are you watching Thunder games? You got a real player in Wiggins and he might have one of the best contracts in the NBA.

[bbms]

i'd rather keep the picks tbh

i'm completely convinced these multiple dips in the teens are underrated in value

Who are you trading away, with draft picks, as salary dumps to use the picks? OKC currently has the maximum 15 players under contract for next season. They could potentially dump Kenrich with a 2nd and maybe Dieng with a 2nd or two. Would you rather do that instead of combine assets to bring back a proven player? I suspect Presti will try to trade the picks in this year's draft for future picks unless there is a player he decides he really likes then he'll attach a 2nd or two to Dieng to open a roster spot.

Keep in mind they will already be breaking one rookie into the rotation next year in Topic. How many rookies do you want to find playing time for on a team that is chasing championships?

ducas and dieng are most likely release material so there's 2 roster spots outside main rotation.

jaylin and carlson, there's no reason to keep them both. jaylin possibly can be worth a future frp. so if there are good offers he can go and extend carlson. if not extend jaylin and let carson go.

so there's 3 roster spots.

i'm on the fence if brooks is worth a further look, but he's definitely releaseable. so there's 4 roster spots.

ajay mitchell most likely deserves a further look but if by the end of preseason he might be in a tre mann situation and could be expendable.

i would keep kenrich for his versatility and proven utility unless there's real value in return - READ: if he can be used to match salary to provide true upgrades over either one joe or wiggins.

[Big nick]

So it seems to me that when sga has a big scoring night we either lose or win by a small margin. I think we are absolutely at our best when sga has 25 and several others are hitting their shots and maybe 3 others score around 20. I remember back when mj had a huge night the bulls lost, others need to step up. Just the team flows better when that happens.

[Dadouv47]

i'd rather keep the picks tbh

i'm completely convinced these multiple dips in the teens are underrated in value

Who are you trading away, with draft picks, as salary dumps to use the picks? OKC currently has the maximum 15 players under contract for next season. They could potentially dump Kenrich with a 2nd and maybe Dieng with a 2nd or two. Would you rather do that instead of combine assets to bring back a proven player? I suspect Presti will try to trade the picks in this year's draft for future picks unless there is a player he decides he really likes then he'll attach a 2nd or two to Dieng to open a roster spot.

Keep in mind they will already be breaking one rookie into the rotation next year in Topic. How many rookies do you want to find playing time for on a team that is chasing championships?

ducas and dieng are most likely release material so there's 2 roster spots outside main rotation.

jaylin and carlson, there's no reason to keep them both. jaylin possibly can be worth a future frp. so if there are good offers he can go and extend carlson. if not extend jaylin and let carson go.

so there's 3 roster spots.

i'm on the fence if brooks is worth a further look, but he's definitely releaseable. so there's 4 roster spots.

ajay mitchell most likely deserves a further look but if by the end of preseason he might be in a tre mann situation and could be expendable.

i would keep kenrich for his versatility and proven utility unless there's real value in return - READ: if he can be used to match salary to provide true upgrades over either one joe or wiggins.

No team would trade a FRP for Jaylin, not even pick #30 IMO. I do think we end up keeping him because he can play if needed and he's a great lockerroom teammate.

I do think Ajay Mitchell gets another season because he was very good in his role before his injury and we don't know how Topic will play.

I might be too low on Brooks, maybe you are right that he's worth a further look.

[Kizz Fastfists]

Are you watching Thunder games? You got a real player in Wiggins and he might have one of the best contracts in the NBA.

He has made a 3 in one playoff game this year. One three every four games is good stuff. He was a bit better last year, hitting a three ball in 4 out of 10 games. 40% of the games a shooter can make a 3!!! That 30% from 3 in the playoffs was impressive last year. It was almost as impressive as Giddy's 35% that got him benched and traded. Wiggins is improving though, he's up to 30.7% in the playoffs this year.

[Kizz Fastfists]

ducas and dieng are most likely release material so there's 2 roster spots outside main rotation.

jaylin and carlson, there's no reason to keep them both. jaylin possibly can be worth a future frp. so if there are good offers he can go and extend carlson. if not extend jaylin and let carson go.

so there's 3 roster spots.

i'm on the fence if brooks is worth a further look, but he's definitely releaseable. so there's 4 roster spots.

ajay mitchell most likely deserves a further look but if by the end of preseason he might be in a tre mann situation and could be expendable.

i would keep kenrich for his versatility and proven utility unless there's real value in return - READ: if he can be used to match salary to provide true upgrades over either one joe or wiggins.

So much wrong with this. I'm not even sure where to being.

Ducas, Brooks and Carlson are not under contract for next year so letting them walk clears 0 spots. A CBA rule you are clearly unaware of is that two-way players do NOT count as part of your 15 man roster. Cutting a player with a guaranteed contract, like Jaylin, means you keep their salary cap hit and get the salary cap hit of the new player. The Thunder are currently only $10M under the cap. So if you cut Jaylin, which Presti will not cut or trade him, you are still getting the cap hit. To put rookie scale contracts into perspective for you, Topic had a $5M salary/cap number this season. So if you start cutting players and add the rookies then OKC pays tax. OKC is NOT going to be a tax payer next year. The year after that I suspect they will go into tax payer status to keep everyone together.

Joe is the guy that can actually make a shot in the playoffs so you might not want to get rid of him. Wiggins, on the other hand, makes Giddey look like Steph Curry.

[bbms]

i'd rather keep the picks tbh

i'm completely convinced these multiple dips in the teens are underrated in value

How many rookies do you want to find playing time for on a team that is chasing championships?

as for this question... given contracts for 2025/26 the thunder won't need rookies in main rotation. so 0? 1? 6? all it matters is if they're good enought or not. if a guy like topic is outperforming a few vets, give him the spot, why not?

and it's exactly the reason why you keep guys like kenrich around. really solid 11th/12th man in the roster, he's someone that you keep to protect 3-4 rookies from exposure

also given how wiggins and joe have played when they had opportunities on an expanded role, i'd really be skeptical if what you call "real players" are much better than a guy like wiggins

the real problem is to not have production out of rookie deals down the line when you're paying three max deals + several 20 mm apy vet deals, which is exactly the leverage sam built for this franchise, and pretty much the best franchise situation in terms of wealth ever in the nba.

[bbms]

ducas and dieng are most likely release material so there's 2 roster spots outside main rotation.

jaylin and carlson, there's no reason to keep them both. jaylin possibly can be worth a future frp. so if there are good offers he can go and extend carlson. if not extend jaylin and let carson go.

so there's 3 roster spots.

i'm on the fence if brooks is worth a further look, but he's definitely releaseable. so there's 4 roster spots.

ajay mitchell most likely deserves a further look but if by the end of preseason he might be in a tre mann situation and could be expendable.

i would keep kenrich for his versatility and proven utility unless there's real value in return - READ: if he can be used to match salary to provide true upgrades over either one joe or wiggins.

So much wrong with this. I'm not even sure where to being.

Ducas, Brooks and Carlson are not under contract for next year so letting them walk clears 0 spots. A CBA rule you are clearly unaware of is that two-way players do NOT count as part of your 15 man roster. Cutting a player with a guaranteed contract, like Jaylin, means you keep their salary cap hit and get the salary cap hit of the new player. The Thunder are currently only $10M under the cap. So if you cut Jaylin, which Presti will not cut or trade him, you are still getting the cap hit. To put rookie scale contracts into perspective for you, Topic had a $5M salary/cap number this season. So if you start cutting players and add the rookies then OKC pays tax. OKC is NOT going to be a tax payer next year. The year after that I suspect they will go into tax payer status to keep everyone together.

why wouldn't pay the tax next year?

[Kizz Fastfists]

why wouldn't pay the tax next year?

To delay being in the repeater tax as long as possible. This is OKC not LAL. They traded Harden to avoid the tax the last time they were at this stage in development. They will pay the tax when JDub and Chet get their extensions, but they will avoid it until then. Then they will most likely navigate around the repeater tax even if it means trading away a key player.

[Dadouv47]

why wouldn't pay the tax next year?

To delay being in the repeater tax as long as possible. This is OKC not LAL. They traded Harden to avoid the tax the last time they were at this stage in development. They will pay the tax when JDub and Chet get their extensions, but they will avoid it until then. Then they will most likely navigate around the repeater tax even if it means trading away a key player.

pretty much this. The Harden argument is pretty stupid because ownership learned from their mistake and paid the tax with a worse team after that but there's no reason to pay it now if u want to keep your team with Chet/JDub (and Cason might cost a ton of money too).

[Dadouv47]

Denver team looks so tired it's incredible they won yesterday (yeah Jokic is the most dominant basketball player since prime Lebron). I really hope they can upset the Clippers because they won't have much left in the tank in the second round. MPJ is almost done and they have 0 bench.

[Zagor]

The team will need to raise the intensity for second round. I have a feeling they were playing more intensive against Pels last year, not to mention series against Dallas.

[Dadouv47]

The team will need to raise the intensity for second round. I have a feeling they were playing more intensive against Pels last year, not to mention series against Dallas.

they played well at home but very bad intensity on the road...sometimes it just happens against bad opponents. I wouldn't draw much conclusions from this series.

[Old Man Game]

That was a weird series with a ton of emotional ups and downs considering it was a sweep. I think the 51 point win was sort of a mixed blessing. They almost couldn't help but take their foot off the gas a bit mentally. Hopefully they can refocus for Round 2 and come out with a little more consistency shooting if nothing else.

[Kizz Fastfists]

The team will need to raise the intensity for second round. I have a feeling they were playing more intensive against Pels last year, not to mention series against Dallas.

It seemed like the closer they got to closing it out in a sweep the less they were concerned about it. If they would have lost yesterday they just go home and close it out. It's not like they were in danger of losing the series. No other team in the West is going to sweep so while you can say the lack of urgency was concerning, especially for a young team, I'm not going to be too harsh on them for a close game on the road in the playoffs. They did what they had to and pulled it out.

[Xatticus]

Who are you trading away, with draft picks, as salary dumps to use the picks? OKC currently has the maximum 15 players under contract for next season. They could potentially dump Kenrich with a 2nd and maybe Dieng with a 2nd or two. Would you rather do that instead of combine assets to bring back a proven player? I suspect Presti will try to trade the picks in this year's draft for future picks unless there is a player he decides he really likes then he'll attach a 2nd or two to Dieng to open a roster spot.

Keep in mind they will already be breaking one rookie into the rotation next year in Topic. How many rookies do you want to find playing time for on a team that is chasing championships?

ducas and dieng are most likely release material so there's 2 roster spots outside main rotation.

jaylin and carlson, there's no reason to keep them both. jaylin possibly can be worth a future frp. so if there are good offers he can go and extend carlson. if not extend jaylin and let carson go.

so there's 3 roster spots.

i'm on the fence if brooks is worth a further look, but he's definitely releaseable. so there's 4 roster spots.

ajay mitchell most likely deserves a further look but if by the end of preseason he might be in a tre mann situation and could be expendable.

i would keep kenrich for his versatility and proven utility unless there's real value in return - READ: if he can be used to match salary to provide true upgrades over either one joe or wiggins.

No team would trade a FRP for Jaylin, not even pick #30 IMO. I do think we end up keeping him because he can play if needed and he's a great lockerroom teammate.

I do think Ajay Mitchell gets another season because he was very good in his role before his injury and we don't know how Topic will play.

I might be too low on Brooks, maybe you are right that he's worth a further look.

I don't know. If I were a team that needed a big, I'd be willing to part with a non-lottery pick for Jaylin. He's young. He can shoot. He is a capable defender. He is comfortable with the ball in his hands and makes good decisions. He can eat minutes. He is on a cheap deal.

That said, I don't see any reason for us to move him. He provides valuable depth and we might not have Hartenstein beyond his current deal. I suspect that Jaylin's next deal will be a bargain and he might assume that role in the future.

I'm not in a hurry to run anyone out of the building, but if someone has to go to make room, Dieng, Jones, and Kenrich would probably be the first three and I wouldn't be paying to get them out of town. We can easily kick the can down the road if the draft doesn't have anyone that stands out, but Presti will probably find someone he wants. Any other additions would depend on availability. Cam Johnson doesn't do it for me, but if a Caruso/Hartenstein type was out there, then I'd jump on it. I don't think it does much good to look at it in terms of who has to go. We won 68 games with a young and deep roster. We can afford to tinker at the margins and continue to develop what we have.

[Kizz Fastfists]

I'm not in a hurry to run anyone out of the building, but if someone has to go to make room, Dieng, Jones, and Kenrich would probably be the first three and I wouldn't be paying to get them out of town. We can easily kick the can down the road if the draft doesn't have anyone that stands out, but Presti will probably find someone he wants. Any other additions would depend on availability. Cam Johnson doesn't do it for me, but if a Caruso/Hartenstein type was out there, then I'd jump on it. I don't think it does much good to look at it in terms of who has to go. We won 68 games with a young and deep roster. We can afford to tinker at the margins and continue to develop what we have.

If OKC makes the Finals, outcome is irrelevant, I expect Presti to run it back. He might move an end of the roster player to draft a rookie or make an upgrade to the end of the rotation, an Olynyk type who would be low cost and fits the stretch big mold. Nothing significant. If OKC loses in the 2nd round I expect Presti to make a big move in the off-season be that Cam Johnson or someone else he believes will elevate the team. If they lose in the conference finals I expect a significant addition that will be a clear rotation piece similar to IH and Caruso were last off-season. They don't have the cap space for a big FA signing so any significant addition will be done via trade.

Given the historic regular season it is fair to say that anything short of winning the title is a disappointment.

[Kizz Fastfists]

LAL down 1-3. Can they find a way to survive the T'wolves?