Looking Ahead: Thunder Could Once Again Face Roster Crunch Next Season
In this story:
For the Oklahoma City Thunder, managing the roster amidst the rebuild remains difficult, but for other reasons. At the start of the rebuild, the Thunder were evaluating which bits of talent they had that would be able to make a future NBA roster. Now, they’re dealing with having too many NBA-level players fitting into the rotation.
The Thunder arguably have a roster crunch at the guard position, as there’s often an odd man out of the rotation that is talented enough to stay in the rotation. For example, Aaron Wiggins and Tre Mann have both seen DNP’s despite being talented enough to have a role on this squad. When the season began and injuries began to roll in, the Thunder had the opposite position at the big man position. They were stretched thin and oftentimes played small ball centers.
Jaylin Williams then got his chance to shine and has become a very impactful player. On top of that, Dario Saric was made available via trade with the Phoenix Suns. He was seeing little minutes during his debut, but made a solid impact when he gained a minutes bump.
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl had seemingly taken a jump before his injury, as he was a solid defensive presence while providing solid spacing.
Aleksej Pokusevski showed a newfound maturity and had appeared to slow the game down, allowing him to be a good connector and paint presence.
For each of these different reasons, each of these players deserve a chance at the rotation for the Thunder at the big man position for next season alongside Chet Holmgren. The Thunder will be taking another step forward towards the playoff race and these minutes will be much more crucial.
Also, those who aren’t exactly in the game-to-game rotation will still provide value. For example, Saric is a veteran presence who brings a level of calmness to the game when needed for the young squad. He could not play for a few games and come in and make an immediate, stabilizing impact while providing a veteran locker room presence night in and night out.
Each of these players has an impact and will be important as a plug and play type player on any given night, but that doesn't mean that there won’t be a roster crunch come next season that the Thunder will have to manage. Lost in all of this is a potential draft pick that will have to be in the mix, too.
The jump to competitiveness while nurturing young talent shows that they'll likely go the G League route moving forward, though, as they have with Ousmane Dieng this season, so there's another wrinkle to look at when managing the roster crunch.
Want to join the discussion? Like SI Thunder on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest Thunder news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.
