OKC Thunder Have Undergone Changes Since Last National Appearance

On Tuesday night, Oklahoma City appeared on TNT for the first time in over two years, falling to the Miami Heat in the final seconds. Heading into Tuesday's matchup against the Heat, OKC had not played a nationally televised game since September 2nd of 2020.

Since then, the Thunder have become a completely different squad, with Darius Bazley, Mike Muscala, Lu Dort and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being the only members of the 2019-20 team who are still on the roster.

In September of 2022, the NBA had recently resumed play after the season was suspended due to the worldwide Covid-19 outbreak. Teams stayed in what was known as the NBA Bubble in an attempt to finish the season while keeping players away from others who could possibly transfer the virus.

Here, in the bubble, is where the Thunder were granted their last nationally televised contest. This came in the form of a game seven against the James Harden-led Houston Rockets in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

Then-rookie Lu Dort was the team's leading scorer in a heartbreaking 104-102 loss to the Rockets, dropping an eye-popping 30 points in his first professional closeout game. The undrafted free agent who had spent half of the season on OKC's G League roster knocked down six triples and made a name for himself as a defender by holding James Harden to 17 points on 4-of-15 shooting from the field.

21 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and three blocks from Robert Covington proved to be too much for the rag-tag Thunder, who were sent home after Harden blocked a Dort 3-pointer that would've given OKC the lead with less than five seconds to go.

Houston would go on to lose to the LeBron James, Anthony Davis-led Los Angeles Lakers in only five games. The Lakes eventually took down Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat in six games in the NBA Finals.

After Chris Paul led Oklahoma City on an impressive finish to the season, the Thunder found themselves as the fifth seed heading into the playoffs. For a team fresh off of trading all-star duo Paul George and Russell Westbrook in the offseason, it was miraculous that OKC made it back to the playoffs so swiftly.

Under the helm of head coach Billy Donovan, the Thunder went 44-28 in a shortened regular season to earn their spot in the Bubble playoffs. Chris Paul averaged 17.6 points, 6.7 assists and five rebounds per game for Oklahoma City that season, earning an all-star bid in his only season with OKC.

Even then, Gilgeous-Alexander was the team's lead scorer on the year, averaging 19 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game in only his second season in the NBA. Other key contributors to the 2019-20 Thunder were; Danilo Gallinari, Steven Adams, Dennis Schroder and Nerlens Noel.

Since then, all four of those players have found new homes, as have most of the other members of the 2019-20 squad. In the offseason, Oklahoma City parted ways with Gallinari, Adams, Paul, Noel and Schroder, opting to turn towards its younger players and begin forging a new OKC roster built for playoff success in the modern NBA. While the Thunder may not have all the answers yet, they certainly have found who they believe will be the next core of their team in Jalen Williams, Josh Giddey, Chet Holmgren and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Like the Thunder, the Rockets have since committed to a rebuild, and have seen a high rate of personnel changes on their own roster.

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