The Oklahoma City Thunder are preparing to be one of the premier teams of the NBA once again. After regularly being one of the best teams of the 2010s, they’re looking to recapture that magic by creating a young core of talent.
Chet Holmgren was asked if the trio of him, Josh Giddey and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, can reach the same heights as the Thunder trio of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook. He responded aptly while speaking with Complex.
“Obviously, I believe in the players we have on this team, I believe in the coaching staff, I believe in the organization as a whole, so the answer is an obvious yes. I think we can reach really high heights. At the end of the day, it’s going to come down to what the guys in the locker decide to come together and achieve. It’s not going to be an overnight thing. We’re having early success, but just because we’re having success doesn’t make it easy for the next 10 years. We’re still going to have to work hard and work through different challenges. That’s something that we’ll strive to do. We got a lot of high-quality characters in our locker room, so I’m excited to get out there and work with those guys.” (h/t Complex)
KD, Russ, and Harden went to an NBA Finals together, the high point of their stint with the Thunder. They also did very early in their time together, making the finals just 3 years after they added Harden to the roster in the 2009 NBA Draft. Replicating that version of the Thunder won’t be easy, but the current team definitely has the pieces in place.
The Best Young Team In All Of Basketball
The Thunder’s roster has reached a talent level where they couldn’t tank even if they wanted to. They are already in the Western Conference play-in race despite intending to be one of the tanking teams this season. They may not be adding Victor Wembanyama next summer, but they already have their core of players that may develop to make this team perennial title contenders.
Shai broke through as an All-Star this season, while Giddey is proving to be the perfect backcourt partner for SGA. The excellent play of rookie Jalen Williams is also showing that they’ve made some terrific draft picks to set themselves up for the future. They’re likely going to add another lottery pick this season while having money to sign and extend whoever they want, along with having an arsenal of future picks to trade for stars or keep drafting young talent. Scary hours will be coming soon in OKC.
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