“They couldn't pick a better time to start in life,
It ain't too early and it ain't too late.”
The opening lines to “Oklahoma” by Rodgers and Hammerstein pretty much sum up the current version of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder didn’t push in too early, nor did they wait too late to add the right players. Sam Presti and his talented front office nailed their timing perfectly. It’s already resulted in one title, and as of this writing, Oklahoma City is off to a 17-1 start and the prohibitive favorites to repeat as champs.
Oh, and any thoughts you have percolating about “Well, the Second Apron will get them eventually” can be put away. The Thunder are built to last.
When the Thunder were still the Seattle SuperSonics, Presti learned a valuable lesson: You need stars to win. The best and most cost-effective way to get those stars is to draft them yourself, or to trade for them before they reach full-blown stardom. Then, you re-sign them, while adding players around them. Along the way, you need to be bold and willing to take some big swings here and there.
The early versions of the Thunder were led by Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. When that trio led OKC to the 2012 NBA Finals, it looked like we’d be watching the Thunder compete for titles for years.
The following fall, Presti traded Harden for a package of veterans and picks. It’s all been written about a million times, and it’s not worth relitigating here, but that move may have cost that iteration of the Thunder a title.
What doesn’t get talked about is learning the lesson of collecting draft picks and players that was learned in that trade. That deal was a precursor of what was to come a decade later in Oklahoma City.
If you comb through Presti’s transaction log starting with the Harden trade, you’ll find a bunch of deals that seemed relatively minor over the next four years or so. What you’ll also find was the Thunder returning an extra draft pick or two in almost every deal.
At the 2016 NBA Draft, Presti made his next “big” move by trading Serge Ibaka to the Orlando Magic for Victor Oladipo and the draft pick that became Domantas Sabonis. That move was made to help offset the potential loss of Kevin Durant, which would happen a couple of weeks later
Roughly a year later, Oladipo and Sabonis were sent to the Indiana Pacers for Paul George. That trade was made to help the Thunder rebuild a contender around Russell Westbrook, who was enticed to sign an extension a few months later.
Chasing a winner around Westbrook led to a trade for Carmelo Anthony. That move didn’t work, and the following offseason OKC flipped Anthony and some draft capital to the Atlanta Hawks for Dennis Schroder. Presti was prescient enough to lottery protect that 2022 first-round pick. Remember this one, because we’re going to come back to it.
The Thunder gave this group one more year, before Paul George decided he wanted to go to LA to play with Kawhi Leonard. This is where Presti struck trade gold with his first monster return of picks and players that is still delivering years later.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danillo Gallinari, five first-round picks and a first-round swap went to Oklahoma City and will finally finish conveying in 2026.
And Presti was just getting started.
The Clippers trade set off a string of deals that has continued through the 2025 offseason. In almost every one of those deals, the Thunder have returned players, picks or a combination of players and picks. In many cases, some of those players and picks were then flipped for even more players and picks.
It would take far too long to go through everything, but it’s all set up the Thunder for their current success. And it’s all got the Thunder set up to keep this run going for a while.
“Plen'y of air and plen'y of room
Plen'y of room to swing a rope,
Plen'y of heart and plen'y of hope.”
After putting together a scrappy group that made the playoffs in the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season, Presti decided it was time to fully rebuild. He tore the Thunder down to a team that featured Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and…well…a whole lot of guys who cycled through Oklahoma City.
Presti asked the Thunder fans to trust him that he could build them back up. After missing the playoffs only twice in their first 12 years in Oklahoma City, the fans had to have hope that a team with heart and room would deliver more than ever before.
In the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, the Thunder featured 48 different players in unform. The team won a total of 46 games those two years. Yes, they had two more players appear in games than games won.
Do you remember Justin Robinson, Gabriel Deck or Charlie Brown Jr. for the 2021 Thunder? What about Rob Edwards, Georgios Kalaitzakis, Scotty Hopson or Melvin Frazier for the 2022 Thunder?
You’ve probably forgotten all about them, as Presti and his front office and coaching staff churned the Oklahoma City roster. But you probably do remember players like Lu Dort, Kenrich Williams and Aaron Wiggins. Those current Thunder players were a product of that two-year diamond-mining process.
Oh, and remember that lottery-protected 2022 first-round pick from the Carmelo Anthony-Dennis Schroder trade? Putting those protections on four years earlier paid off, because that pick became Chet Holmgren. One of the Clippers picks delivered in 2022 too. That pick became Jalen Williams.
Throughout those two down years, the core was taking shape. As that core grew and the Thunder started improving, Presti didn’t stop trading. Oklahoma City became sort of a rehab center for veteran players. George Hill, Derrick Favors, Al Horford, Kemba Walker and others swung through Oklahoma City for a spell. Those vets played a little, rested and rehabbed a lot, and then moved along to their next destination. The other thing they all had in common? They all came with future draft picks attached to them, and a lot of those vets returned another draft pick on their way out of town too.
While Presti amassed his hoard of draft picks, the Thunder front office was keeping the cap sheet clean too. They signed and re-signed players to long-term, team-friendly deals, while patiently waiting for the big salaries to hit. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander signed a rookie scale max extension, and for a while was the only sizable long-term deal on the Thunder books. Crucially, that deal didn’t include a player option, which will matter in just a little bit.
Keeping the cap sheet clean allowed OKC to keep taking on those veteran deals for a three-year period. That revolving door delivered the Thunder such a long list of incoming draft capital that it became hard to keep track of all of it. Regularly, you would hear opposing NBA executives remark some version of “Of course the Thunder have that pick too!”
Remember when Presti traded a formerly high lottery pick in James Harden before extending him? In the summer of 2024, Presti traded Josh Giddey before extending him to the Chicago Bulls for Alex Caruso. About six months later, Caruso extended with the Thunder on deal that is for only a bit more than the Non-Taxpayer MLE.
A couple of weeks after acquiring Caruso, the Thunder used most of their cap space to sign Isaiah Hartenstein. Those two veterans combined with the now-developed young core to deliver the 2025 title to Oklahoma City.
And they aren’t even close to done.
“And when we say;
Ee-ee-ow! A-yip-i-o-ee-ay!
We're only sayin',
You're doin' fine, Oklahoma!
Oklahoma, O.K.!”
As of this writing, the 2025-26 Oklahoma City Thunder are 17-1 and running roughshod over the rest of the NBA. The Thunder’s scoring differential is currently 16.9 points per game. That’s more than four points better than the 2024-25 Thunder, who set a record with a scoring differential of 12.8 points per game.
Oklahoma City hasn’t played a game within as many as 13 points since they lost by two points at the Portland Trail Blazers on November 5. The Thunder are on pace to go 77-5 this season. Is that likely? Probably not. Should you be certain it won’t happen? Probably not.
Oh, and let’s not forget that Jalen Williams hasn’t played a minute yet. So, yeah, this team is pretty great.
The Thunder have most of their core under team control for at least the next three seasons after this one. The team’s main three players, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Williams are all signed through 2030-31. Only Gilgeous-Alexander has a player option of that trio too.
Now, to be fair, Gilgeous-Alexander, Holmgren and Williams are all on max contracts. In the NBA’s Second Apron Era, it’s hard for teams with three max players to stay together. But the Thunder planned for this. And they did it for years.
Remember when the Thunder signed Gilgeous-Alexander to his rookie scale extension? They didn’t give him a player option. That means he’s still on that deal through the 2026-27 season. That year, Gilgeous-Alexander, who might be a back-to-back MVP by then, will be Oklahoma City’s third-highest paid player behind Holmgren and Williams.
When the Thunder extended Lu Dort in 2022, that five-year deal was seen as a bit of an overpay for a player who had shot less than 39% from the floor for his career.
When Oklahoma City tossed Isaiah Hartenstein a three-year, $87 million deal, it was seen as a major overpay for a guy many had as worth a bit more than the Non-Taxpayer MLE.
Both of these deals were the Thunder using their cap flexibility when they had it. And in both cases, it should pay off down the line for OKC.
In both of those deals with Dort and Hartenstein, the Thunder got a team option on the final season. That final season? 2026-27. Just when the rookie scale max deals kick in for Holmgren and Williams, while Gilgeous-Alexander is completing his rookie scale extension.
It’s almost a mortal lock that the Thunder will decline those team options for Hartenstein and Dort. But they aren’t likely going anywhere. OKC will re-sign both players, and they’ll probably get them on good deals too.
Dort will be 27 years old heading into next season. His next deal might start around the $18.2 million his team option is worth, but looking at recent history tells us to expect that deal will likely decline year over year.
Hartenstein will be 28 years old and he’s not going to touch the $28.5 million his team option is worth. But that’s why the Thunder paid him $58.5 million over the last two years. Expect Hartenstein to take less per year, but with multiple guaranteed years tacked on to make up for anything he gives up next season. And, like Dort (and Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins before them), expect that deal to decline year over year too.
If things get sideways with either player, then the Thunder can point to players like Cason Wallace, Ajay Mitchell, and currently-out players like Nikola Topic and Thomas Sorber, as ready to step up for even bigger roles.
Heck, OKC has done such a good job developing players through the G League, that we need to keep an eye on two-way players Brooks Barnhizer, Branden Carlson and Chris Youngblood too. There’s a good chance at least one of them becomes the next two-way player to pop for consistent rotation minutes in the NBA.
If all else fails, Sam Presti and crew can look to the NBA Draft to bring in replacements. The Thunder are still holding at least nine first-round picks over the next seven drafts, and up to 14 first-rounders over that same period. If that’s not enough, Oklahoma City has between 16 and 21 second-round picks spread across the next seven drafts too.
Adding some context around those picks: Some of the juicier ones have already cashed in, but there’s still a handful of picks that look pretty valuable sitting in Presti’s vault. The 2026 Jazz pick (top-eight protected) and swaps tied up with the Clippers picks in 2026 and 2027 (both unprotected) are looking particularly good.
None of this means the Thunder won’t be expensive. They’ll be pushing up against the second apron starting as soon as next season. But there’s nothing in their setup that means that they’ll have to start hemorrhaging talent.
It’s also important to remember that during the years Oklahoma City had Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, and for a few seasons after that, the team didn’t shy away from paying the luxury tax. There’s no reason to expect them to break this team up over a tax bill.
Even when things go wrong for the Thunder, they somehow go right. Jalen Williams missed his 18th game on Sunday. That means he’s no longer eligible for NBA awards for this season. That means his rookie scale extension won’t bump up past 25% of the cap. Williams is still set to make a projected $41.5 million, but he could have had up to a $49.8 million payday coming his way. That’s $8.3 million of play that the Thunder weren’t certain to have.
If some players do prove to be too expensive to keep, the Thunder can trade them and replace them with younger, and more cost-effective, options through the draft or the G League. And those trades will probably deliver more draft picks. It’s almost a self-sustaining cycle at this point.
NBA history tells us something will get sideways for the Thunder. A multi-year dynasty that lasts a decade or might not be in the cards. Injuries, unhappiness with role or contracts, tax bills, second-apron punishments or an alien down south in San Antonio might break things up before a dynasty is fully born.
But Sam Presti and staff have built this Thunder group with all of the above in mind. The new NBA is designed for parity. The Thunder are here and ready to break the system. Go ahead and sing it with me:
“And when we say;
Ee-ee-ow! A-yip-i-o-ee-ay!
We're only sayin',
You're doin' fine, Oklahoma!
Oklahoma, O.K.!”
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© USA Today Sports
© USA Today Sports
© USA Today Sports
© USA Today Sports
