The Oklahoma City Thunder are heading toward another NBA Draft Lottery in which they will have great odds of landing the No. 1 overall pick. Oklahoma City had the fourth-worst record in the NBA this season, so the lowest in which they will be selecting is No. 8 overall, which means they will be adding another young prospect to the roster this offseason.
There isn’t a team in the league with as much draft capital as the Thunder in the coming years. You can add up the draft picks multiple franchises have and it still may not be close. While that is always nice to have flexibility, eventually, things have to start translating onto the court.
Right now, the Thunder seemingly has two players that are sure-fire foundational pieces; Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who signed a max rookie extension, and Josh Giddey, the No. 6 overall pick from the 2021 NBA Draft. Those two are the future in the backcourt for Oklahoma City, but it is time they start upgrading elsewhere on the roster.
Given the cap space that they have, the Thunder can chase anyone in free agent with a max contract. Veteran players are unlikely to give any mind to them unless they are drastically overpaying. But, there are some young players who are restricted free agents that they could show interest in.
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Teams are sometimes hesitant to pursue restricted free agents because they do not want to tie up their plans while the other team makes their decision about whether they want to match or not. Having no real urgency in free agency, the Oklahoma City Thunder could make big offer sheets as a result.
One player that should be directly in their crosshairs is Deandre Ayton of the Phoenix Suns. It would be genuinely shocking if the Suns allowed Ayton to leave in free agency, but they made their stance clear coming into the season that they didn’t think he was a max player.
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It is anyone’s guess if Ayton did enough to convince them, but he has been playing great basketball once again. If Suns’ ownership isn’t willing to pony up a max contract for him, someone else will and it could easily be the Thunder.
Deandre Ayton would give them a long-term building block in the middle, having three excellent building blocks as foundational pieces. Ayton is just scratching the surface of his potential offensively and is already a walking double-double. His defense has gotten better every season as well, as he is an anchor for the PhoenixSuns on that end of the court.
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Adding him to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey would put the Oklahoma City Thunder on the path to being competitive on the court. They would still have work to do, but those three would be a strong young trio to build around for the future.
