OKC Thunder Have Luxury Of Simply Playing Season Out

For many teams around the league, the trade deadline is a time to make big decisions. This is often a key milestone in an NBA campaign in which some teams make moves to push for the playoffs, while others sell assets and pivot towards the upcoming offseason and draft.

For the Oklahoma City Thunder this season, they’ll have the luxury of maintaining status quo and just letting the season unfold. They’re in a unique situation where there’s actually advantages to whatever direction the team goes the rest of the way.

With how close the standings are in the Western Conference, Oklahoma City is well within reach of a playoff spot, but also fantastic lottery odds.

To be more specific, the Thunder are 2.5 games out of the fourth seed in the West, which would mean they would have home court advantage in a first round playoff series. On the flip side, they’re also just 1.5 games out of the 13th seed in the Western Conference and 2.0 games away from top six lottery odds.

What this means for Oklahoma City is that the next week and a half leading up to the deadline doesn’t require any impulse decision making. Thunder GM Sam Presti has ensured Oklahoma City that the front office will be extremely patient during the rebuild and let the team declare itself when it’s time.

“The longer you want to be good, the more patience it sometimes requires,” said Presti following the 2020-21 season.

Will that declaration and emergence be this season with a playoff birth? Or will that be next season following another lottery pick and Chet Holmgren both joining the talented roster?

To make things more interesting, Oklahoma City has the right to swap its first-round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft with the LA Clippers. While the Clippers are currently three games above .500 and ahead of the Thunder in the standings, that’s another wrinkle that could be in play late in the season if OKC does climb the standings and make a legitimate playoff push.

Either way, the Thunder are in a really good spot. The young talent on the roster is improving at a rapid rate. Oklahoma City has hit on its recent draft picks and has plenty more moving forward to use as trade chips or continue building home grown talent through the draft.

This Thunder roster has proven that through 50 games, it has risen to a new tier. While other rebuilding teams like the Houston Rockets, Detroit Pistons and others are still projected to land top three lottery odds with a poor record once again, Oklahoma City is clearly at a different level.

Although they’ve taken a huge step forward, patience truly will be the key in ensuring long-term success, as there’s only one thing that matters to the Thunder.

“There’s only one thing to win in the NBA and it’s a championship,” said Presti almost two years ago.

It may be a quiet trade deadline for the Thunder, but that’s mostly because simply playing out the season is the best option.