With the NBA Finals set to begin Thursday, it only makes to look back to see how both teams got here. Not in terms of the three teams they beat in the playoffs, but rather how their rosters were constructed, allowing them this chance at NBA immortality.
We’ve already taken a look at the Pacers, so now it’s time for a deep dive on the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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Right off the bat, we must acknowledge the Thunder have had one of the most atypical models of team-building in the history of the league.
Yes, they built primarily via the draft, which has been a common strategy for decades, but they did so in such a juiced-up way, it became it’s own thing.
The best way to describe how general manager Sam Presti went about this job is to imagine any random mobile game that you pull out on the bus home.
We all know them. The more time you spend on them, the more gems or digital cash you get to reach new goals.
That’s Presti and draft picks, but in real life. There is literally a non-zero chance that Presti somehow acquired two firsts and five seconds as this piece was being typed out. As a matter if fact, OKC has 11 first-round picks through 2030.
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But, of course, regardless of how many picks a team has, you still need a crown jewel, and ironically Presti had to go outside the organization to find it.
(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports illustration)
The Shai Gilgeous-Alexander & Jalen Williams trade
When Kawhi Leonard met with the Los Angeles Clippers in the summer of 2019, he made one thing painfully clear: The only way he was signing there, was if the Clippers acquired another star to come along with him.
The Clippers, seeing the potential of signing Leonard, obliged and identified Paul George as the perfect running mate.
They reached out to Oklahoma City, which was in no rush to pivot off George, a top-three vote-getter in both MVP and DPOY that year.
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As such, Presti set his price, and the Clippers went all-in.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Danilo Gallinari were the players sent out, and what followed was one of the most aggressive draft-pick trades of all-time. Five first-round selections, as well as two swaps, were relinquished.
The 2021 and 2023 firsts came via Miami, which were picks previously acquired by Los Angeles. The Clippers also gave up their own first-round selections in 2022, 2024 and 2026.
Finally, the Clippers included swap options in 2021 and 2025.
The acquisition of Gilgeous-Alexander turned into a franchise-altering move, as the high-scoring Canadian became a three-time All-NBA player and earned his first league MVP honor this season.
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As for the 2022 selection … that turned into Williams, who became an All-Star and made All-NBA in his third season and is unquestionably the second-best player on the team.
The pieces around them
Before selecting Williams at No. 12 in 2022, the Thunder had just completed a 24-58 season and won the second overall pick in the draft that year.
They spent that pick on Chet Holmgren, who has turned the Thunder into a three-star team (we’ll discuss this a little later), with the organization now having a star at the guard, at the wing and at a big position— a positional star breakdown every team in the league covets.
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In 2019, the Thunder identified Lu Dort, an undrafted 6-foot-3 oddball of a player who wasn’t quite a guard and wasn’t quite a wing, but something in between.
After going undrafted, he was signed to a two-way deal and has since evolved into a starter who’s in Year 6 with the team and is one of the most effective bullying defenders in the league.
Cason Wallace, a 2023 first-round selection, was originally chosen by Dallas. The Thunder traded for him, giving up their own selection (Dereck Lively) and Dāvis Bertāns in the process.
Wallace is a key two-way role player, who played over 27 minutes per game in the regular season and is currently playing over 22 minutes per game in the postseason.
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Just last year, OKC added to its undrafted-defender war chest when it pried away Alex Caruso from the Chicago Bulls, relinquishing former lottery pick Josh Giddey, who couldn’t even stay on the floor in the playoffs.
Caruso is now the Thunder’s best perimeter defender and one of their best connectors.
That same summer they went out and spent big on Isaiah Hartenstein, deciding that big-man depth was of tremendous importance, especially as Holmgren is more of a finesse defender than a physical one.
Those are really their key pieces, but two more names are worth mentioning.
Isaiah Joe was waived by the Sixers in 2022, and the Thunder picked him up just three days later, realizing his plug-and-play capabilities. Joe is now the Thunder’s best guard shooter and is earning over $12 million per year.
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Finally, Aaron Wiggins was a late second-round pick in 2021 whom the Thunder brought along slowly. He’s now one of their best offensive wings and can be used in multiple lineups.
The three-star model
For most teams, the three-star model is a no-go because it’s often translated into the three-max model, meaning a team will spend the vast majority of the cap on just three players, disallowing it of any substantial depth.
The Thunder will, eventually, face the same issue. However, since Holmgren and Williams were both drafted by them, Presti didn’t have to relinquish depth or assets for their services.
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Therefore, when their extensions are in place, the team will have already loaded up with depth, pieces and draft capital for future reinforcements.
Will the Thunder keep everyone around? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean any major roster turnover is coming anytime soon.
Overall, the Thunder executed their plan perfectly. They optimized bites of the draft apple and landed multiple stars and depth that 29 other teams wish they had.
It might also land them a championship in a few weeks.
Read the full article here