Thunder Biggest Position Needs Ahead of Draft

The youngest roster in the NBA excelled and blew away expectations this season in Oklahoma City.

Now that the team has ended the season and transitioned into the offseason the Thunder now have a chance to bolster a roster that made the play-in tournament.

While the roster excelled this season, there are still holes to be filled before OKC can compete for a playoff run. The Thunder are positioned with the 12th best odds in the NBA lottery putting them in prime position to add another top tier rookie into the mix next season.

Plenty of top talent at most positions will still be available around the 12th pick giving OKC the pick of the litter at which position it wants to fill. The Thunder drafted Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Ousmane Dieng in the first round a draft ago, mixing up positions with three represented in those picks.

A key downfall of the Thunder’s season was size in the paint and the lack of a true center to match up with the best big men in the league. Rookie second rounder Jaylin Williams took over the starting role of center from Jeremiah Robinson-Earl over the course of the year. While Williams performed well in the role, OKC could still look to fulfill the big man position even more in this draft. Holmgren will be available to enter the rotation next year after missing all of this season due to a Lisfranc injury.

The center position is challenging to draft at times in the NBA, which could lead Sam Presti and the Thunder front office to look at filling another gap in the rotation at the three spot. While the three are currently locked down in the starting lineup, depth is crucial for the Thunder bench. Dieng, Lindy Waters and Aaron Wiggins provide the current depth at that position and a high-end lottery prospect could be the key to unlocking more potential at that position. Those three players all had times of promise for OKC this season, but a player like Gradey Dick or Kris Murray could take the position group to a new level.

The OKC guard room is pretty full and talented, but the Thunder could always look to bolster that room even more. With a large group of talented guards in the draft that could be available at the Thunder’s selection Presti could always shake up the roster in that way. A player like Jordan Hawkins or Jalen Hood-Schifino could make their case to enter into the OKC guard group and fight for minutes immediately, especially with the struggles Tre Mann faced this season.

The Thunder core and starters are there and ready to continue to grow, but the team still needs to fill out the depth at certain position groups and continue to find playmakers throughout the lineup. Each position group has a varying level of need for help, but the Oklahoma City has the prime opportunity to fix a hole in this year’s draft.

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