Identifying Milestones And Pivotal Moments For OKC Thunder In 2022-23 Season

The upcoming 2022-23 NBA season will kick off in less than two months. It will begin the third season of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s official rebuild, as the team has missed the playoffs two years in a row.

Oklahoma City spent the offseason signing its existing players to new contracts, while also being extremely active in the draft. The Thunder ended up selecting four players in the 2022 NBA Draft, which included three lottery picks.

The headline of the offseason for the team was adding Chet Holmgren to the roster with the No. 2 overall pick. A potentially generational prospect, the 7-footer could end up being Oklahoma City’s best player on both ends at some point.

With that in mind, the Thunder are still a few pieces away from being a legitimate playoff team. The core is starting to form, but they project to be at least another season or two away from making that jump.

There will be several milestones throughout the 2022-23 campaign that will be important for Oklahoma City. There’s a few major points at which the team will make important decisions and potentially pivot.

Oct. 19: Opening Night

Oklahoma City will kick off its season on the road against the Minnesota Timberwolves. This will be the official NBA debut for Holmgren and the other three rookies on the roster.

This could prove to be a challenging debut for Holmgren, as Minnesota has perhaps the best frontcourt in the entire NBA. With two physical centers in Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns, the rookie will have his hands full.

Will Holmgren prove he’s a generational prospect from day one, or will he take some time to develop into the face of the franchise in OKC?

Nov. 1: G League Season Begins

The G League is of extreme importance to Oklahoma City, especially given all of the young prospects on the roster. In the upcoming season, several players will bounce between the Blue and Thunder to maximize developmental minutes.

This will allow players that struggle to crack the NBA rotation to get court time in the G League. Since the Thunder’s affiliate team is in Oklahoma City, this system is leaned on heavily.

Last season, some of the young guys performed poorly at the start of the season but looked much improved upon returning from a long G League stint. Once the season opens for the Blue, expect guys like Ousmane Dieng and Jaylin Williams to spend more time there than with the Thunder.

Dec. 31: New Year’s Eve Tradition

For the 15th consecutive season, the Thunder will play on New Year’s Eve. This season, it will be a matchup at home against the Philadelphia 76ers. This will be a fantastic test for Holmgren, who will be matching up with one of the most dominant centers in the NBA in Joel Embiid.

Oklahoma City will have played 35 games entering this contest with Philadelphia, meaning the halfway point in the season will be on the horizon. That’s a large enough sample size to really know what type of team the Thunder will be.

Will they already be ten or more games under .500, or will the Thunder be better than advertised? Regardless, entering the year 2023 could be a pivotal time.

Early Feb: NBA Trade Deadline

When it comes to pivotal events in the season, the trade deadline is one of the biggest. This will be a point in which Oklahoma City will have to decide to be buyers, sellers or just stay put.

This will also be the case for other franchises around the league. Will the trade deadline add teams to the race for a top pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, or will more teams go all-in to make the play-in tournament?

After the trade deadline, we will officially enter the final stretch of the season. This is a time in which roster exploration typically starts to happen across the league.

Feb. 17-19: NBA All-Star Break

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is one of the best players in the entire league to never make an NBA All-Star appearance. This season could be his first, but the performance of the team will likely factor in to how that plays out.

If the Thunder are playing better than expected, Gilgeous-Alexander could get the nod for leading that effort. If they’re one of the worst teams in the league, he will likely miss once again. History tells us players on bad teams have to produce ridiculous statistics to make the all-star team.

Following the break, which will take place in Salt Lake City, the Thunder will only have 25 remaining games. Depending on where the team is at, the rotations could start to get interesting around this time.

April 9: Close of Regular Season

Oklahoma City will conclude the regular season on April 9 at home against the Memphis Grizzlies. Following this game, we’ll know the Thunder’s final record and where their lottery odds will fall.

In the months following this game the playoffs will begin, but so will several other key events. The pre-draft process will start to get underway, as the draft lottery and combine take place. This will be an important time for the Thunder, who will hope for lottery luck and begin making decisions on which prospects they want to work out privately.

A new CBA is on the horizon in 2023, meaning this will also be something to monitor around this timeframe. It’s unlikely Thunder GM Sam Presti makes any franchise-altering moves before knowing how the CBA might affect the team’s future.