It’s been three and a half seasons since the Oklahoma City Thunder exchanged their establishment player Russell Westbrook to Houston.
In that time, the Thunder has figured out how to arrive at the end of the season games once – unexpectedly losing to Westbrook and the Rockets in 2019-20. While the 2017 MVP has ricocheted from Houston to Washington, and presently the Los Angeles Lakers the discussion is still on regarding who won the Westbrook exchange, Houston or OKC?
We can discuss the exchange victor for quite a long time, however one thing that is sure is that the Thunder expected to continue on from Westbrook, and start to assemble a group that can by and by make profound season finisher runs.
The Trade
By all accounts, one may see Russell Westbrook’s numbers with the Oklahoma City Thunder and can’t help thinking about why an establishment would exchange away a person who was a nine-time All-Star and had recently had three continuous seasons averaging a triple-twofold.
To put it obtusely, the Thunder were not going to win with Westbrook as their principle fellow and expected to begin without any preparation once more. One more justification for why the Thunder needed to move Westbrook was his compensation – he was owed $171.1 million throughout the following four seasons and set to procure an incredible $47.1 million of every 2022-23, the last year of his agreement.
On July 12, 2019, the Thunder sent Westbrook to Houston to combine efforts with previous colleague James Harden. Consequently, the Thunder got Chris Paul, first-round picks in 2024 and 2026 and the option to trade first-rounder in 2021 and 2025. The Westbrook bargain was gone before by Paul George being transported to the Clippers. All things considered, OKC got seven extra first-round picks arranged through 2026 – – in addition to four pick trades – – by means of arrangements for Paul George and later Chris Paul.
Sam Presti had basically made a fresh start for him to revamp another list.
From a wistful outlook, this was a hit to the Thunder fans that had watched Westbrook bloom and had seen him arrive at a NBA Finals close by Harden and Kevin Durant. The last man staying from that triplet was presently gone, yet the fantasy about building one more solid competitor in the West was alive.
The Rebuild
Presti started collecting resources, at one phase possessing 36 draft picks – 18 first-rounder’s and 18 second-rounder’s – throughout a couple of years. The Thunder’s moves in the late spring of 2021 would be critical to establishing the framework for what’s to come.
At that mid year’s draft, the association chose Josh Giddey, the immense ability from Melbourne, Australia, with the 6th in general pick. The 2021 NBL (Australian star association) Rookie of the Year found the middle value of 10.9 focuses, 7.6 helps, 7.3 bounce back and 1.1 takes in 28 games with the Adelaide 36ers. In Giddey, the Thunder accepts they have the player who could be their point watchman of things to come.
Then, they marked Shai Gilgeous Alexander to a drawn out bargain worth $172 million more than five years.
Those two actions have turned into the foundations for the Thunder pushing ahead.
Talking at the group’s media day before the season, Gilgeous-Alexander suppressed thoughts that the Thunder modify may come down on him, particularly given his agreement.
Take it each day in turn, Gilgeous-Alexander said. You must be available. You can just take it daily at a time, try to improve each and every day in whatever space you need to, and afterward it’ll sort out itself after some time. I feel like that is had accomplishment for my profession up to this point, and I’ll presumably adopt a similar strategy with the group.
The two players are at beginning phases in their professions – Giddey being the second-most youthful player in the NBA when he entered the association at 18, and Gilgeous-Alexander is only 23.
Oklahoma City likewise flipped its sixteenth pick in the 2021 draft into two additional future first-rounder in an arrangement with, shock, the Houston Rockets.
The Future
Oklahoma City is as yet a couple of seasons from this revamp project proving to be fruitful, yet up to this point Presti’s bet on taking Giddey so high is paying off.
Through his initial 22 games, Giddey is averaging 10.5 focuses, 6.7 bounce back and 5.9 helps. He was named Western Conference Rookie of the Month for October/November for sure.
Gilgeous-Alexander is performing at a high rate, and the group is likewise getting a strong commitment from Luguentz Dort, who is averaging 17.5 focuses per game and is additionally youthful at 22.
Given the resources they have aggregated, Oklahoma City is additionally in a decent situation to use any exchanges for a set up player to collaborate with Giddey and Gilgeous-Alexander to add some experience to the list. This is still ahead of schedule in the reconstruct so there will be some developing agonies which are normal.
The Thunder is additionally in a decent situation to land a free specialist assuming that their young center keeps on sparkling – a player who could add profundity and experience to adjust the adolescent and expectation to absorb information. The rundown of free specialists in 2022 and 2023 is one that the Thunder will watch out for.
OKC doesn’t have a conclusive timetable of when it hopes to indeed be a season finisher group. Deeply, it will surely – at any rate – make them invigorating to watch until they become a competitor in the Western Conference again.