{"id":10897,"date":"2024-05-27T21:43:05","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T02:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=10897"},"modified":"2024-05-27T21:43:05","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T02:43:05","slug":"presti-will-move-to-make-okc-the-team-to-beat-giddey-will-be-gone-utahs-markkanen-a-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=10897","title":{"rendered":"Presti will move to make OKC the team to beat….Giddey will be gone…..Utah’s Markkanen a target?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ending of the 2023-2024 Playoffs was not what the Oklahoma City Thunder wanted, losing to the Dallas Mavericks in six games in the Western Semi-Finals.\u00a0 As each and every team that makes the playoffs in the NBA, the goal is to make the FINALS and win the Larry O\u2019Brien Trophy, signifying the Championship won.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

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The loss in Dallas was close, as the Mavs took a 117-116 win in game six, but OKC had a season to remember.\u00a0 They won the Western Conference regular season and a first round playoff series over the New Orleans Pelicans, sweeping the 4 games to fresh out. \u00a0The Thunder became the youngest team in NBA to accomplish the two feats.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

Let us move on to the 2024-2025 season and see what we might expect from the Thunder.\u00a0 First, General Manager Sam Presti holds all the secrets on what he will try to improve this team.\u00a0 He has set up the team to be on their current upward course to reach the NBA Finals in, hopefully, a short time frame. Might it be next year, or the next, or in four or five, Presti has made the team viable in the next years as a contender that the rest of the league will have to deal with.\u00a0 The Thunder, along with other successful teams, will battle it out, and with that, the expectations on Reno Street in downtown OKC are as high as any in the Association.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

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Discussion on what this team can do in the next few months to make another advancement, range from getting another big man to help Chet Holgren move to a wing as the Thunder become more dominate in their post play, on offense and especially on defense; on what Presti will do with Josh Giddey and his future with the Thunder; what OKC will do in regard to the NBA Draft will also be taken under consideration.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

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As of GM Presti, consideration on the salaries of the players comes into play, not only for 2024-2025, but the next many years, as the team gets older, and each player qualifies for enhanced paychecks.\u00a0 Can the Thunder afford to keep the most significant players which has put them where they are now?\u00a0 Will Shai-Gilgious Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Jalen Williams want as much money as they can get under the NBA contracts? Is it workable with the new NBA salary scale?\u00a0 Can OKC keep the base stars in fold, and pay any added super star?\u00a0 Presti will have a plan, but one that can change on a dime depending upon what the future brings.\u00a0 The GM will take into account injuries, player decisions as of their attitude toward their careers, and the financial situation of the team and league will come into play as he makes the moves.
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My take on the situation is as follows.\u00a0 Presti will work at signing a significant free agent, using draft choices and current players to bolster the interior defense and find another big that can rebound and shoot the three.\u00a0 Look for a big name player but not some older player that is on his last years of his career.\u00a0 A Lauri Markkenden over a Paul George, for example, young and ready to fit in with the current group.\u00a0 Josh Giddey, Lu Dort, or Kendrick Williams are three current Thunder players that could be gone this summer in working a deal.\u00a0 With numerous draft choices available, the deals can be made.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

My list of the least tradable players on the roster, with significance on the team importance, is as follows:<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n
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  1. \n

    \u00a0Shai Gilgeous Alexander<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n
  2. \n

    \u00a0Chet Holmgren<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n
  3. \n

    \u00a0Jalen Williams<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n
  4. \n

    \u00a0Cason Wallace<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n
  5. \n

    \u00a0Lu Dort<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n
  6. \n

    \u00a0Jaylin Williams<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n
  7. \n

    \u00a0Isaisha Joe<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n
  8. \n

    \u00a0Aaron Wiggins<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n
  9. \n

    \u00a0Kendrick Williams<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n
  10. \n

    \u00a0Josh Giddey<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n
  11. \n

    \u00a0Ousmane Dieng.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The balance of the team are basically interchangeable and could and would be traded to meet the needs of the trading partner with Presti\u2019s approval.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

    Look for Presti to make moves up, or down, in the draft, depending upon his targets for improvement. Draft night will be an exciting night for the Thunder. <\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

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    T<\/strong><\/em><\/span>he opening roster for OKC in October 2024 will have a new look and the core will be significantly better to deal with teams like Denver, Minnesota, and Dallas.\u00a0 Improvement will come in the front court.\u00a0 Plus, it is of my opinion that Giddey will be moved. \u00a0 If Presti can sweeten the drink for the Utah Jazz, a starting lineup of SGA, J-Dub, Holmgren, Markkanen, and Dort might be what Presti is looking for.\u00a0 OKC gets that needed player from Utah and the Jazz begin to build for the future with some significant OKC draft picks and who know who from OKC?
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    Feature Photo: AP\u00a0 (Markkanen to join Holmgren for 2024)
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    <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The ending of the 2023-2024 Playoffs was not what the Oklahoma City Thunder wanted, losing…<\/p>\n

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    <\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,4,7,9],"tags":[1772,1745,1915,1768,53,178,567],"class_list":["post-10897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-home","category-latest","category-nba","tag-chet-holmgren","tag-josh-giddey","tag-lauri-markkanen","tag-lu-dort","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-sam-presti","tag-utah-jazz"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":88,"today_views":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10897"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10904,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10897\/revisions\/10904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}