How The Thunder Should Handle Important Offseason Decisions

The Thunder are coming off a Game 7 victory over the Indiana Pacers, 103-91, to win their first NBA Championship since moving to OKC. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the charge for the Thunder and was rewarded with Finals MVP. In addition, he became the first guard since Michael Jordan and the first player since Shaquille O’Neal to win the regular season MVP, Finals MVP, and the scoring title in the same season. Thunder fans are going to celebrate this victory for a long time, as it has been long overdue. However, while the Thunder will enjoy this, there are some important offseason decisions they must make now that the season is over.

The Thunder’s big 3 of Shai, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren are all eligible for extensions this year. In addition, the Thunder have three picks in this year’s draft and not enough roster spots available for them. Finally, the Thunder will have to decide which players they want to keep rolling with to see how many championships they can win. Let’s dive into these three important offseason decisions for the Thunder and how they should handle these situations in the offseason.

How The Thunder Should Handle Important Offseason Decisions

Thunder’s Big 3 Extensions

The Thunder have three great players who complement each other extremely well and who the Thunder want to build around moving forward. However, keeping Shai, Jalen, and Chet together for the future is going to be a hefty price and could limit their flexibility for other spots on the roster.

Gilgeous-Alexander is eligible for a four-year max extension that would be for $293 million, or the Thunder could wait a year for him to be eligible for a five-year, $380 million extension. Jalen and Chet, on the other hand, are both eligible for rookie max extensions. The question now is, how should the Thunder handle these?

Gilgeous-Alexander is an easy one as he is the franchise guy, and he has proven this year that he deserves every penny he gets. It should be up to him whether he wants to sign the big extension this year or next year, or even take a lower deal to help the team. Williams and Holmgren are a little bit different, as both players deserve the extensions, but they come with question marks. Williams comes with inconsistency, and Holmgren comes with an injury concern. However, between the two, Williams seems like the safe bet for an extension. With Holmgren, the Thunder should wait another year to see if his injury history continues. Regardless, these three players are who the Thunder want to build around, and deals should get done; it’s just a matter of when.

Roster Spots for Draft Picks

Another issue the Thunder will face is what to do with their draft picks and roster spots. All 15 of the Thunder’s guaranteed players are under contract for next season; however, some players have team options or non-guaranteed money. They don’t have enough spots open for the three draft picks they have this year; the only thing they have available are two-way contracts. Now the Thunder must decide: do they want more rookies, or do they let go of some players to make room for those rookies?

Ousmane Dieng will be entering his final year of his contract and has barely played in three seasons for Oklahoma. Thus, he could be a player they let go. Other players like Dillon Jones, Ajay Mitchell, Nikola Topic, Kenrich Williams could also be flexible to let go or packaged together in a trade. Regardless, if OKC lets go of certain guys or moves up in the draft, they are going to have to figure out how to handle this conundrum they put themselves in.

Should The Thunder Make a Trade?

One solution for the Thunder is to package 2-3 players and possibly draft picks to get another quality player off the bench. Most championship teams would be wise to run it back. However, the Thunder are in a unique position where they can be flexible. They aren’t going to be able to pay everyone and draft everyone with all their picks. But, they can fix that by trading for a solid rotation player who can fix any weakness they have in order to defend their title. This is the best and most likely scenario for the Thunder, who still have problems to address despite winning it all this year.

The Last Word on The Thunder’s Offseason Decisions

It took 17 years, and two rebuilds, but the Thunder finally got over the hump and won a championship. However, while the celebration has just begun in OKC, there are important decisions on the horizon.

This offseason is going to be very important for the Thunder and how they can succeed in the future. It could very well determine if the Thunder will be the next dynasty in the NBA or if they will just be one and done and continue the parity of NBA champions.