OKC Thunder Have Plenty of Lineups To Throw at Teams

The Oklahoma City Thunder are attempting to repeat as NBA champions. The Thunder own the deepest and most talented team in the NBA and are a popular pick to once again sit atop the NBA come late June.

Oklahoma City has four games of its six-game exhibition slate in the rear-view mirror. So far, only one of those games has featured anywhere close to Mark Daigneault's preseason. Taking you back to Thursday's preseason rematch with the Charlotte Hornets inside the Paycom Center, the Thunder flexed their muscles in a win that featured a large chunk of their true rotation.

It was the Thunder's ability to shapeshift their lineup that really stood out. In the blink of an eye, Daigneault deployed a double big lineup featuring Isaiah Hartenstein and Jaylin Williams sharing the floor together for the first time, into a five-man group that featured rookie Brooks Barnhizer as the sueldo big man in a super small defensive-focused group flanked by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, Cason Wallace and Alex Caruso.

That versatility is easy to envision once the regular season rolls around. From the expected starting five of Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, and Hartenstein to the team putting just one big man on the floor, even down to the aforementioned small lineups, how can other teams keep up with the twists and turns of the Bricktown Ballers' rotation in a 48-minute game?

This is part of the reason why the Oklahoma City Thunder have seen bench boss Mark Daigneault garner 23% of the vote from the league's executives in the latest GM Survey regarding which NBA coach makes the best in-game adjustments.

Constantly adjusting the size on the floor has forced teams to react - and at times overreact - to what the OKC Thunder are doing and throw them off their game.

Case and point, the Minnesota Timberwolves last season yanked Rudy Gobert off the floor - despite him winning his minutes when on the hardwood - to try to match the Thunder's speed and athleticism of lineups in their Western Conference Finals best-of-7 set, which only lasted five games before Oklahoma City punched its ticket to the Western Conference Finals.

With returning 99% of the Thunder's title team from a year ago, they also retain their optionality. One of the squad's biggest strengths, which led to them capturing that elusive first championship in franchise history. It is what has set them on track to have dynastic talks in Bricktown.