The Oklahoma City Thunder have quickly gone from rebuilding to NBA champions with a young core that’s redefining the league’s approach to team-building in the post-superteam era.
In Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s early days in Oklahoma City, things weren’t nearly as bright as they are now. After a surprising playoff run alongside Chris Paul in Billy Donovan’s final season as head coach, the Thunder stumbled to 22–50 and 24–48 records in back-to-back years.
What came next, though, was a remarkable transformation. Over the next three seasons, Oklahoma City evolved from a rebuilding team buried near the bottom of the standings into a powerhouse atop the Western Conference. Two years after their struggles, the Thunder were title contenders, though many still questioned whether such a young squad could survive the grind of a deep playoff run. The following season, those doubts vanished as they were cutting down the nets as NBA champions, powered by Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP run.
In addition to SGA, the Thunder were also led by 24-year-old Jalen Williams and 23-year-old Chet Holmgren, to go with a fiesty collection of “older” players in Alex Caruso, Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins, and Isaiah Hartenstein. All of these players were acquired through shrewd moves by Sam Presti — whether that be via draft picks, signings, or trades — leading some to question whether the old “superteam” model is dead.
“We’re definitely seeing teams more prioritized depth and seeing how can we build a team built around athletic, multifaceted players, being able to impact the game on multiple levels defensively, offensively having length, having size. You’ve definitely seen that,” Shams Charania said on the latest episode of Network with Rich Kleiman. “I think Indiana was a byproduct of that. Oklahoma City obviously was a byproduct of that. You got to have the star power, of course, but you need to also have players, teams that can go 8, 9, 10 deep in the playoffs. That has become increasingly important. … I do wonder how much of that shift is also just by necessity of the second apron and the first apron, and teams wanted to stay out of those aprons because if you’re in the second apron for more than a year or two, you’re basically in basketball hell.”
Be sure to catch the full conversation between Shams and Kleiman across Boardroom and Yahoo Sports platforms.
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