How the OKC Thunder Rebuild Compares to Others

The Thunder are progressing in their rebuild, but so are other teams. Where do the Thunder stack up?

It’s no secret the Thunder are in a rebuilding period.

Oklahoma City, however, isn’t the only franchise going through a rebuild. Each team does it differently.

OKC has chosen to go through its rebuild with a young core, a lot of unutilized cap space and a stockpile of draft picks in the years to come.

Oklahoma City’s young assets are the likes of Josh Giddey, Aaron Wiggins, Tre Mann, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and a host of others. While they also have the talents of Lu Dort and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The Thunder have an average age of 22.7, which is nearly younger than some Division I college programs.

Here’s how the Thunder’s rebuild process stacks up with other rebuilding NBA teams: 

Detroit Pistons

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The Pistons have their new cornerstone after drafting Cade Cunningham with the No. 1 overall pick in the most recent draft, but the rebuild is still ongoing.

The Pistons, despite having their new piece to build around, find themselves at the bottom of the NBA standings, sitting dead last with just 12 wins.

Cunningham, Killian Hayes and Saddiq Bey headline the youngsters for Detroit to look forward to who have had an impact early on, despite Hayes having injury issues.

The Pistons, unlike the Thunder, made a rebuild enhancing move at the trade deadline. Detroit traded for former second overall pick Marvin Bagley III.

The top section of the young core and the addition of some helpers around the ball seem to have the Pistons ahead of OKC in the process, but the draft picks the Thunder possess along with the cap space, put the ball in the Thunder’s court. 

Sacramento Kings

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Sacramento has started and restarted its rebuild multiple times since originally starting from scratch.

The Kings took another weird step at last week’s trade deadline, a sort of step which has been common in their process. The Kings have De’Aaron Fox, who is the piece they’ve been building around, averaging 21.4 points and 5.1 assists per game this season.

While they’ve tried various pieces around him they’ve moved on from each. The most recent being Buddy Hield who provided a sharp-shooting aspect next to Fox’s ability to get downhill to the basket. While Hield didn’t falter in his own right, it never seemed like the right fit with Hield eventually moving to the bench.

Last week, the Kings decided it was time to give Fox a new piece to work with. They moved on from Hield and added Domantas Sabonis in the deal, however, in doing so they got rid of Tyrese Haliburton, a move which shocked the Kings faithful, and most of the NBA.

Now though the Kings roster has Fox, Sabonis, Richaun Holmes, Harrison Barnes and Donte Divincenzo. 

The Kings are well over the salary cap, but the roster and pieces speak for themselves. All signs seem to be pointing to brighter pastures for the franchise that hasn’t been to the playoffs since the 2006-07 season. 

Houston Rockets

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The Rockets and Thunder have had a competitive rivalry since OKC moved from Seattle, and both teams started their rebuilds relatively close to each other.

The two teams both have had similar trajectories in their rebuilds as they have stayed competitive with each other and have chosen similar paths in the process.

The Rockets, much like OKC, have flashy young pieces. For Houston, it’s Jalen Green, Jae’Sean Tate and Kevin Porter Jr. The trio have burst onto the scene in Houston and have all had success, despite the team struggling.

The Rockets also have Christian Wood in his fourth season, but his future has been in the air throughout the season. Regardless, he has had a major impact on the team.

The Rockets, while not owning the same stockpile as OKC, have a nice draft pile stacked up for their future. The Rockets have two first-rounders coming in 2022 and two more in 2023.

Where the biggest difference is between the two is cap space and their experienced pieces. Where the Thunder have cap room, Dort and Gilgeous-Alexander, the Rockets are over the cap due to John Wall, who likely wants out.

Both teams are in unique positions where they could be competitors sooner rather than later with their young cores. 

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