Oklahoma City Thunder’s 15-Man Roster Finalized Ahead Of 2022-23 Season

The 2022-23 NBA season kicks off on Tuesday night, with the Oklahoma City Thunder slated to have their first matchup on Wednesday against the Minnesota Timberwolves. As such, the official 15-man roster was finalized today as final personnel decisions were made.

Entering training camp late last month, there were 19 players with full-time contracts on the Oklahoma City roster. While it appeared there was going to be a roster crunch with four players battling for one spot, Thunder GM Sam Presti got creative.

For starters, he traded away the four players that were ultimately going to be competing for that spot to the Houston Rockets and Atlanta Hawks. In a pair of deals, Oklahoma City traded away Theo Maledon, Vit Krekci, Ty Jerome and Derrick Favors and in return landed David Nwaba, Sterling Brown, Marquese Chriss and Trey Burke when it was all said and done.

Brown was waived immediately, while Chriss and Burke never joined the team and Nwaba played in a just few preseason contests before being waived.

What’s interesting is that none of the original four players entering camp nor the four players that were traded for over the last few weeks ended up landing that 15th and final roster spot. Instead, it was Isaiah Joe who earned that spot.

After being waived by the Philadelphia 76ers over the weekend, the sharpshooting guard signed a three-year deal with Oklahoma City. The former second-round pick is still just 23 years old and will have a real chance to compete for minutes later in the season.

His deal is reportedly worth $6 million over three years, which is fully guaranteed year one, non-guaranteed year two, and includes a team option year three.

With Joe taking that final roster spot, the final 15-man roster was put into place.

• Darius Bazley
• Ousmane Dieng
• Luguentz Dort
• Josh Giddey
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
• Chet Holmgren
• Isaiah Joe
• Tre Mann
• Mike Muscala
• Aleksej Pokusevski
• Jeremiah Robinson-Earl
• Aaron Wiggins
• Jalen Williams
• Jaylin Williams
• Kenrich Williams

Furthermore, Eugene Omoruyi and Lindy Waters III are on two-way contracts in Oklahoma City.

One player that made the roster but didn’t get the contract extension he was eligible for is forward Darius Bazley. A Klutch Sports client, the 6-foot-9 prospect had until today to agree upon an extension, but now will play out the 2022-23 season in Oklahoma City before becoming a restricted free agent next summer.

Now that the roster is set, the Thunder will travel to Minnesota for their opener against the Timberwolves on Wednesday.