Ahead of Intriguing Offseason, Mark Daigneault Says OKC Thunder Roster Had ‘Everything We Needed’

Oklahoma City’s impressive season ended in heartbreak on Saturday night, as PJ Washington drilled three free throws to send the Thunder home. Even though expectations changed over the course of the season, everything this young Thunder team was able to accomplish was impressive to say the least.

Most penciled in Oklahoma City to be fighting for a play-in spot, and 45 wins was the baseline total before the season started. In typical Thunder fashion, the team blew those expectations out of the water, though, cruising to the No. 1 seed in a loaded Western Conference and completing a first round sweep of the New Orleans Pelicans. The Thunder had chances to beat the Mavericks in the second round, but an unfortunate shooting slump combined with Dallas’ explosive role players spoiled the Cinderella story.

Now, heading into the offseason, Oklahoma City is one of the most intriguing teams to monitor. The roster is loaded with assets and management has a record number of draft picks in its back pocket. If there’s a team best positioned to make a splash move, it has to be the Thunder. On the other hand, though, Oklahoma City was the second youngest team in the NBA for a large majority of the season, netted the top seed and won a playoff series. Are changes even necessary? Building experience throughout the current core could be the answer.

Mark Daigneault clearly had conference in his team all season long and continued to echo that during his exit interview. One quote in particular stood out as Oklahoma City attacks the summer head on.

“I said this last night, going into the playoffs, at the point in the regular season, I thought we had everything we needed with this team to be the best team that we could,” Daigneault said.

“I thought from a team standpoint we had what we needed to win this series, and we ran into a team that played better than we did. But I don't think that's an indictment on the roster. I don't think that's an indictment on any individual person or where we are. It's simply we could have played better in the series, but it wasn't an indictment on anything else.”

There’s a few different ways Oklahoma City could approach the offseason, and having options is the best place to be in. Adding size to the front court is a strong option, and finding a lineup-flexible power forward could help with the team’s overall rebounding.

The Thunder currently owns the No. 12 pick in the NBA Draft, too. If there’s a prospect that the front office likes in the late lottery, it also makes sense to stand pat and let the current core continue trekking upwards.

Just because Oklahoma City fell short of the Western Conference Finals, it doesn’t mean many big changes need to be made. It could be an offseason of filling out the holes and finding the secondary missing pieces.

One thing is for certain, though. Oklahoma City is in good hands with Sam Presti. He has nailed the No. 12 pick in the draft two years in a row with Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace, and has pulled off a handful of incredible trades over the years to position the Thunder for success. Whether he makes a splash move or trusts the growth of the current core, the Thunder faithful should feel comfort in any direction.

Oklahoma City has the assets and talent to be a force for years to come.

“We had a special enough season to be disappointed in the second round of the playoffs,” Daigneault said. “I have no problem walking in here today saying that we're disappointed with the end of the season. We should be.

“But at the end of the day, if you look at great players, if you look at great teams and you look back at the bread crumbs of what led to their greatness, there's a lot of struggle, and there's a lot of hurdles that they have to overcome, there's a lot of adversities that they have to endure. There's a lot of success they have to endure.”

A trade or two might be helpful, but the biggest key to the roster is internal progression. Another offseason of improvement for Williams and Chet Holmgren is more important than anything.

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