Thunder Faces Crucial Roster Decision Amid Youthful Talent Surge

The Thunder are running out of roster space, and with more young players on the way, OKC will have to make a critical choice. 

"They used their Russell Westbrook-blessed lottery pick on Topić, who is redshirting because of ACL surgery," outlined The Athletic's Law Murray. "Jones has only reached 10 minutes in a game once since the All-Star break. Mitchell did well enough as a backup point guard to graduate from a two-way contract, but he hasn’t played since Jan. 3 because of toe surgery. Ducas has played 76 minutes on a two-way contract; he’s a big wing shooter at 6-foot-7, 220 pounds. Carlson was in camp with the Toronto Raptors and was needed when centers Isaiah Hartenstein, Chet Holmgren and Jaylin Williams were all injured; he’s on a two-way contract now."

At some point, Sam Presti will have to pay these young players. They could commit long-term to their 12-man roster this season, which has already shown that they can compete for a title, or they could trade young players for a bonafide star, and run a starting lineup of Shai Gilegous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Lu Dort, and an unnamed star, and then use their massive haul of draft picks to have a rotating cast of role players.

Once those young players reach the end of their rookie contract, the Thunder can flip them for more picks and keep the trend going.

OKC has long been heralded as genius for hoarding picks, and it seems like their bets are paying off, although at a certain point adding win-now players instead of projects will need to be the priority.