Will OKC Thunder's Depth Lead to Less Regular Season Success?

The Oklahoma City Thunder are set to defend their title, but there could be some issues in the regular season.

The Thunder have been one of the league’s top teams for the past few years and are coming off an NBA championship. With so much recent success and still being one of the youngest teams in the NBA, the Thunder have a chance to continue their dominance for the foreseeable future.

While there’s no doubt that Oklahoma City is ready to defend its title as the league’s top team, the Thunder also have a somewhat unconventional challenge ahead. The Thunder’s depth has always been a key strength, particularly during the regular season, but they also might have a bit too much depth to maintain their typical level of dominance from 2024-25.

Considering the Thunder have won a championship, they don’t necessarily have much to prove in the regular season and simply need to focus on securing home-court advantage for the postseason. That means Mark Daigneault and company could put a bit more focus into developing some of the team’s younger players who are still looking to make their mark in the league.

Last season, the Thunder had 12 rotational players when fully healthy. Now, with Thomas Sorber replacing Dillon Jones and Nikola Topic being fully healthy, that number has spiked to 14.

While having 12 players looking for somewhat consistent playing time would have been a problem last season, injuries kept the Thunder from having to run more that 10 players in a game with any real consistency. Assuming Oklahoma City can get some better health luck this upcoming season, the immense depth could present a clear challenge for Daigneault.

Although the Thunder have the league’s MVP in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and other stars in Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, the team might want to focus more on keeping them fresh for the postseason rather than giving them the larger loads that most stars around the league have.

Add in the ability for the Thunder to give some rest to veterans such as Alex Caruso, Isaiah Hartenstein and Kenrich Williams, and suddenly Oklahoma City will be trotting out unproven players on a consistent basis, which could impact the team’s ability to repeat its 68-win campaign. However, as seen in some of the Thunder’s “program wins” toward the end of the season, Daigneault’s system and the team’s winning culture will hold up regardless of who is on the floor.