The Oklahoma City Thunder are mounting for years of success after recent moves.
The NBA does small market teams no favors. When their championship window closes, they must get brutally honest with themselves and begin a rebuild. Oftentimes, this means years of poor results while compiling good draft picks, hoping they will pan out as a superstar to lead the next era of the team.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have completed that cycle as they traded away their star players in 2019 and officially kicked off a rebuild in 2020. They were the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference a season ago behind their core, and they hold the same feat through 26 games this season.
Not only do the Thunder have a young core of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, but they’ve begun to build an elite core of players around them to support them. On December 23, they made a decision to double down on a recent trade victory of theirs.
The Thunder recently signed Alex Caruso to a long-term extension. The two sides agreed on a four-year, $81 million contract to keep the defensive-minded, floor-spacing guard in Oklahoma City for years to come.
The role player secured just above $20 million annually to provide great energy for the Thunder either off the bench or in spot starts. The deal also comes as the salary cap is expected to continue to rise for years to come.
Oklahoma City offering Caruso this level of a contract proves they got a stud this offseason. The best part? They got Caruso by trading away no draft capital and only including Josh Giddey in the deal. The win is a clear trade for the Thunder, who improved substantially, got an $81 million stud and had to move on from no true assets to do so.
While there is plenty more for Caruso to accomplish in Oklahoma City, the club clearly saw enough from his short stint in the city that they extended him long-term as they look to become perennial contenders with their current core. That wouldn’t have happened with Giddey, hence the Thunder winning the trade.
For a player like Caruso, who has seen plenty in the NBA as a veteran, there is a learning curve when playing in a system like the Thunder have. Caruso went from a spot-up shooter and key defender to being more involved in the playmaking aspect of the offense.
Still, with Caruso getting acclimated and the Thunder having yet to play one game fully healthy this season, the potential on the season is incredible. They have a 21-5 record and have battled a couple of key injuries in doing so.
The Thunder can improve substantially, which is quite scary after a No. 1 seed positioning, comfortably so, too, and far from what their potential is. Many would like to see Oklahoma City make one more move to reinforce their contending status, but they seem to have limitless potential as is.
Keep an eye on a future Thunder squad that is fully healthy, and even more so with Caruso playing a prominent role with more comfort within the lineup. They should be good for years to come, too.
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