Darius Bazley’s Case at Being the Thunder’s Fifth Starter
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This offseason, the Oklahoma City Thunder drafted four new players and retained two of their three free agents after they waived Isaiah Roby. This leaves the Thunder with a roster crunch, having to unload three more players after buying out JaMychal Green’s contract.
The Thunder’s roster has another crunch, and that being the fifth starter position. The four locked-in starters consist of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, Lu Dort and Chet Holmgren. This begs the question, who will be the fifth starter?
Darius Bazley has had fans extremely excited and disappointed both during his three years in OKC, and there are questions as to where he stands with the Thunder in the rebuild.
Not every young prospect is going to turn into a star, but some will develop nicely into a great role player to compliment their stars, and Bazley may be able to do just that with the Thunder and the starting lineup.
It’s easy to envision Bazley in an Andrew Wiggins role, like he played in Golden State for their title run.
If – and it’s a big if – Bazley can get his 3-point shooting percentage anywhere in the 35% ballpark, the Thunder would be wrong not to start it. It seems like a big jump, nearly a five percent jump from last season, but Bazley shot 34.8% on 3-pointers in his rookie year. The potential is there.
Beyond the shooting, the defensive versatility is very strong in the starting lineup. Dort and Holmgren both bring in potential defensive player of the year level defense, and Bazley is a solid defender. Shai and Giddey both have long wingspans and are decent defenders, which helps round out the starting five on the defensive side of the ball.
Shooting isn’t the only area Bazley could make an impact on offense, as last season we saw Bazley improve as a cutter, and finishing at the rim, or as Giddey would say, at the ring last season. He became much more aggressive and assertive on offense, and if he brought that to the starting lineup, he’d make for a great role player.
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