Subpar Offseason Grade Shows The OKC Thunder Already Have All They Need To Thrive

A recent ESPN grade might say OKC didn't have a great offseason, but there is more to uncover than what's on the surface.

Sam Presti, Thunder General Manager, has his end-of-season media access, Monday, June 8, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Are the Thunder graded on an unfair scale?

This offseason has been nothing short of crazy, and the Oklahoma City Thunder are no exception. The roster has gone through a crazy transformation, as the organization had to make multiple moves to shed salaries, helping them to try to avoid the second apron. 

Unfortunately, to do so, OKC had to trade away Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins and most recently Lu Dort. The moves were necessary, but others don’t believe that they were necessarily the right ones. 

ESPN recently came out with its offseason grades for each NBA franchise so far, and the Oklahoma City Thunder received a C+ for their moves to date. The franchise was applauded for resigning its big man, Isaiah Hartenstein, but was questioned about its decision to choose resolving money issues over its depth. 

However, this might be an unfair assessment of the team and what it needs. Oklahoma City lost three guards who were rotational players but weren’t exactly necessary when you see everything the roster has to offer. 

The Thunder have quite the depth already in the backcourt, with the two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, an All-NBA player in Jalen Williams and rising stars in Cason Wallace and Ajay Mitchell. Meaning, yes, those three players might be good additions to any team, but they weren’t a need for the loaded OKC anymore. 

Instead, the Thunder have loaded up on more young talent in Aday Mara and Bennett Stirtz, whom they took in the first round of this year’s draft. Stirtz can be another young guard who helps Oklahoma City’s guard room down the road, along with Mara, who will bring more talent to a frontcourt the Thunder have tried to grow to compete with the NBA’s best. 

OKC has also invested more in its future, as it secured seven second-round picks when trading its three guards. The Thunder can use these picks in a variety of ways, whether it's choosing to select a player or trading for another. No matter what, Sam Presti will for sure use seven extra draft picks to his advantage. 

Just looking at the surface, losing three players that helped you win a championship doesn’t seem like a good look. However, when you dig deeper, you’ll see that Oklahoma City has so much available that losing these players isn’t necessarily a bad offseason. 

The Thunder will have to wait til the season starts to prove the media wrong, and they could do so by making a run at their second title and getting back to the top.