Tanking obv altered OKC's trajectory (bc of Chet). But for fanbases wanting to replicate OKC, the part where they were willing to press eject on a good team with 2 All-Stars locked up in their prime was way more important and still required a ton of luck w/ the Clips' situation.
I don't know what to do with the Giddey info w/o more details. Awful that the person is being doxxed/harassed. I'm hoping for some clarity and transparency from the team in the near future because this isn't the type of thing you can ignore.
Completely uncomfortable with national media sounding like the most homer of Thunder fans. We need the equivalent of cap smoothing for the OKC takes. I can’t go from black eye of the league to this so quickly.
I’ve heard a couple pods now mention that OKC has the Clippers’ unprotected swap in 25 and pick in 26, and I just want to make sure we don’t forget that they also acquired their unprotected 27 swap in the Harden deal as well.
I've just been on basketball-reference comparing Giddey's age to 2022 draftees. Younger than Chet! A month older than Paolo! Younger than 4 of the top-6 picks! 31-9-10 in a meaningful game! I've always been a big fan, but he keeps exceeding my expectations.
The negativity on Thunder Twitter is turning me into an optimist. Some of these vibes I’m seeing are 2016 levels of freaking out. You gotta pace your pessimism. We’ve got years ahead of us to become fully unhinged.
The thing that drives me insane about Giddey starting is that Mark is so flexible and experimental in every other way as a coach. Why is THIS the hill you're willing to die on? Try literally anything else!
I still don't think he wins, but I hope OKC finishing as the
#1
seed makes some people give Shai's MVP case a second look because it's a very strong case.
I still think some are underrating this move for the Thunder. OKC just landed the 4th best player on their roster without giving up any draft capital. This is a massive upgrade to the roster.
Easily the best win of the season. They've obviously had a great year so far, but that was exactly the type of win I've been waiting for. Statement game.
Chet Holmgren getting overrated chants in Summer League after dropping 15-9-2 and 4 blocks in his first game back in a year and getting the win convincingly is crazy hating lol.
If Kenrich is going to play 18 minutes, there's just not going to be many questionable minutes played for the Thunder. The rotation tonight was legit from top to bottom.
If Ous helps OKC win summer league and wins MVP, will you consider him the most decorated Thunder player ever like me? 2-time MVP and 2-time champ? Legacy summer for Ous.
I know we've been conditioned to always think future, but we have to be honest about what this team has right now and how rare that is. You don't do a deal just to do it, but you can't blindly brush off the idea of making a trade when you have this set-up.
The Thunder have two of the best value contracts in the NBA - SGA as an MVP candidate on a regular max and Chet who has been all star level good on a rookie deal.
They would be insane to not take advantage of this ASAP.
@Albabycakes
2 years of “tanking” doesn’t get you this. We lost in the playin last season. Again stop with the narrative that the thunder tanked. We just weren’t good.
I talked to two different teams this morning and both independently mentioned that they are monitoring the Thunder and what happens with the roster.
One exec told me "Some good players are going to get cut from OKC and we all need to be ready to jump when that happens."
I am not saying this is going to happen BUT if you were going to trade for KD and Dort's contract was the cleanest path to making that trade work money-wise, trading for Caruso would be very smart.
My OKC doomer thoughts go away when I stop comparing them to the KD/Russ era. When OKC lost in the Finals, LeBron, GS, or the Spurs won 7 straight. Now every champ looks more like the 2011 Dirk title. This is the best environment to win a title in the history of the sport.
I am uncomfortably excited for this Thunder season. I need the team to come out and say they're going to enlarge the Love's patch or something to get me grounded again.
Incredible win. Per
@cleantheglass
, that was the least efficient halfcourt offense (82.4) OKC has had all season. Shot under 40% from the field. 43.5% at the rim. 20% on corner 3s. And still won on the road against a really good team.
As each new City Edition jersey is revealed to a chorus of boos, I'm getting more and more excited for OKC's. What is this nasty little thing going to look like?
My most homer take is that I genuinely believe Kenrich completely changes this team and that OKC’s ceiling *right now* is influenced by him a little more than it probably should be. I think he’s that important.
Was listening to a pod who brought up the "Can/Will they pay them all?" argument about OKC. Reminder that Chet and JDub's next contracts wouldn't hit until 2026-27. That's FOUR seasons from now.
It’s nice to hear a national person like Bill Simmons being high on OKC, but his take loses steam when he talks about Tre Mann potentially being in the closing lineup. One of those things that you can say on a national pod but would be the spiciest take ever on a Thunder pod.
ESPN Sources: The Houston Rockets are trading G Kevin Porter Jr., and two future second-round picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder — who are waiving Porter Jr., immediately. Thunder are sending the Rockets Victor Oladipo and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl in the transaction.
This is why so much of the discussion around OKC feels short-sighted to me. Yes, they could use more size/rebounding. But not at the expense of their style. They'll have a better shot being unconventional than hopelessly trying to matchup with Jokic. He's cooking the DPOY!
Don't think the discussion point tonight should be about Gobert guarding Jokic, but that no one in the league can guard Jokic.
There is no solution. No one has it. It doesn't exist.
I know there is a segment of Thunder fans that would not have been upset if OKC sat SGA and prioritized the draft pick. I think we all need to set our differences aside now and come together around the idea of OKC beating the Clippers in the play-in.
This is what happens when you acquire too many picks. You have to use two seconds and a weak first to acquire a much more valuable lightly protected future first. It's sad, really.
Listen, I love talking trades as much as anyone, but the funniest outcome is that the critics end up being right that OKC has too many picks to roster, aren't willing to make the all-in move, need to overpay in any deal...and none of it matters because the team is so damn good.
Scary discussion on press row right now: What if… the Thunder doesn’t *need* to make any trades with their treasure trove of picks? They’re already scary and handing it to the Nuggets right now.
Looking at stats and that was the 4th-slowest game of OKC's season, in terms of pace. Felt like a college basketball game at points. What an ugly, beautiful win.
Poking around HoopsHype and remembering that OKC has a $7.1M team option for Kenrich Williams for the 2026-27 season. That's an all-time Presti contract.
As good as Chet’s been, what we’re seeing now is only a glimpse of what his impact will eventually be, especially offensively. He’s four games into his NBA career! And already an obvious positive on the court!
Hard not to watch this and start thinking about the playoffs, when this will be the obvious approach to defending OKC. What is realistically going to make defenses reconsider defending this way in the playoffs?
BREAKING: The Chicago Bulls are trading two-time All-Defensive guard Alex Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder for guard Josh Giddey, sources tell ESPN.
@Albabycakes
It’s already happening in comments on every story and tweet about the state of OKC. In a way, it’s even more infuriating than all the SGA trade/“won’t be able to pay all the guys” talk because at least there’s some semblance of logic to those. With this, it’s just total nonsense.
Bruce Brown has playoff experience, allows OKC to keep playing the way they want to, plays much bigger than 6'4'', has a contract that is very low risk to OKC's future cap sheet, nickname is "Cowboy Bruce"...any good arguments against?
It's kind of funny in retrospect how much time I spent worrying about whether SGA and Giddey could be a positive on the court together. It seems clear now that THIS is the pairing that matters most long-term and the early returns are very very good.
Rewatched Luka’s attempts from last night. When his shot was contested by Lu Dort, he shot 3/9. When it was contested by anyone other than Dort, he shot 9/13.
I would've rather waited for 20 games because it's a nice, round number, but there's no games on tonight so...
Here's how OKC's start to the season stacks up to past OKC seasons (all stats
@cleantheglass
). What they're doing on both ends is only comparable to the 2012-2014 era.
Through 7 playoff games, the Thunder have either shot worse than 34% from 3 or better than 45%. No normal games. Just wildly swinging back and forth, slowly driving me insane.
Really fun season. I can’t wait to see what moves they make because the window of no expectations is officially closed. My early shot-in-the-dark prediction is that Isaiah Stewart is on the Thunder next fall.