OKC Thunder Taking Advantage of Modern NBA Trend

The Oklahoma City Thunder are a versatile and position-less bunch. Taking a modern NBA trend and perfecting it. What is the value of playing this style and when did it start? We talked to players around the NBA to figure it out.

You don't have to unearth a letter a 16-year-old Sam Presti penned to the Boston Globe to understand his teambuilding strategy with the current Oklahoma City Thunder.

While Presti's pining for Jason Kidd to wear Celtic green is a great tidbit - he has been much more blatant about the direction he is taking this Thunder team.

A now prerequisite for Presti acquiring a player in this second era has been versatility. In every sense of the word. From switchable defense to playmaking and three-level scoring, you have to check a lot of boxes to wind up in Oklahoma City.

On the bench for the Thunder is a coach who has aligned with this vision for quite some time. In Sept. of 2021 before embarking on a 24-win season, Mark Daigneault envisioned this current iteration of the team.

"I think one of the things that I think is pretty evident, especially when you watch the Playoffs -- the teams that are the most formidable in the NBA are the ones that offensively have multiple creators," Daigneault said.

That is exactly the roster Oklahoma City has crafted to catapult themselves into contender status.

Nearly every warm body on the Thunder's sideline is capable of being a creator - no matter if it is as dazzling as Josh Giddey whipping passes across the court or Kenrich Williams being able to grab a rebound and push the pace without scrambling to find a traditional guard.

This has been a shift in the NBA that most attribute to the Golden State Warriors who rattled off a dynasty in the 2010s by splashing triples and playing Draymond Green at the five.

“Probably a few years ago with the Warriors. Because they have such a versatile offense you kinda have to be the same defensively." Pelicans swingman Malcolm Hill told Inside the Thunder "I feel like in the early 2000s people were kinda set and determined with ‘you gotta be this position, you gotta play that position.’ Now it's kinda like ‘eh you can get away with playing like these positions as long as you can guard.’” 

His teammate and long-time NBA veteran Cody Zeller agreed when trying to pinpoint the change in the NBA. “After my third or fourth year in the league, it was all kinda post-ups and back-to-the-basket stuff...Once the Warriors started winning Championships it changed a lot. Playing Draymond [Green] at center, the whole league has gone that way now.” 

Few in the NBA are better equipped to detail the position-less shift than Pelicans forward Larry Nance Jr. He had a front row seat to the change in Cleveland, making deep playoff runs with the Cavilers and matching up with the Warriors in the NBA Finals.

“My second year in Cleveland after that playoff run, we went to the Finals, then that next year it was like alright the league changed," Nance told Inside the Thunder "I got drafted as an undersized power forward and now I was starting playoff games at the five."

As the veteran big man chuckled he added "The game changed in a span of two or three years," which is when the now 31-year-old realized he needed to add dimensions to his game to become more of an offensive hub.

This position-less style does change the equation for players attempting to prepare for NBA games night in and night out.

When quizzed on what that process looks like, Nance Jr. let out a sigh and shook his head as if he just worked a 40-hour shift at Walmart during Black Friday in the early 200s as suburban moms fought to the death over a Samsung flat-screen TV.

“A lot of mental preparation, a lot of film, lot of experience honestly. It is a check-in and figure out what the game needs at the time I check-in. Just try to bring that whatever it is. Whether it is energy, rebounding, physical inside presence whatever it may be," Nance Jr revealed to Inside the Thunder about the taxing process of preparing to defend a multitude of positions.

Unlike Zeller and Nance Jr. who had to learn to adjust on the fly, this style of basketball is baked into the cake for Thunder youngsters like Jaylin Williams and Cason Wallace.

“I feel like around college [Is when he figured out basketball's shift]" Williams said "Then, I got [To Oklahoma City], and there are guys bigger than me switching, and I’m playing center and I am the short center, so I realize I have to be more diverse on the defensive end, be able to do more things."

The Arkansas big man understands the value in buying into this versatile role "I think it adds a different aspect to the game when you are able to switch with the five-man.” 

Wallace is asked to be position-less in a different way - sliding up and down the lineup to defend some of the toughest perimeter matchups on the floor.

“I knew it since I came in [to the NBA] I was going to be one of the guys guarding some of the best players in the league. So, no surprise there.” the rookie guard said this week.

This Swiss Army knife dream has become a reality for the Oklahoma City Thunder who have seen Daigneault admit they have a roster void of positions that they are looking to maximize.

That they have done, Oklahoma City owns a top-five offense and defense in the 2023-24 campaign while also owning the best record in the toughest conference.

In their maiden playoff voyage, the Thunder are off to a blistering start grabbing a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Pelicans before the series shifts to the Bayou. Though, this is no surprise to anyone paying attention.

This team-building strategy had its foundation built back in 2020 - now all that is left to do is lay the shingles.

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