Thunder’s 15-Man Roster Becoming More Clear

As Oklahoma City's preseason chugs along, the Thunder's active roster for the 2022-23 season starts coming into focus.

Prior to entering training camp, there was a question looming. How was the Thunder going to cut its 19 contracts down to 15? Now, the Thunder are heading toward their final preseason game, the picture looks a little bit more clear.

The franchise has since traded away four players that were on the roster prior to camp: Vit Krejci, Theo Maledon, Derrick Favors, and Ty Jerome. But in return, they also received four: Marquese Chriss, Trey Burke, Sterling Brown, and David Nwaba.

Thunder Acquires Sterling Brown, Trey Burke, Marquese Chriss, David Nwaba and Generates Two Trade Exceptions

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— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) September 30, 2022

Brown was waived a few days later, trimming the list of players signed to the active roster by one. And since that swap, only one of those players has seen the court during the preseason. That’s the 29-year-old journeyman, David Nwaba.

If playing time is any indication for the newcomers, then it might be safe to say that Chriss and Burke probably won’t make the final cut. Assuming this is true, that would bring the number down to 15.

It is also highly unlikely that the Thunder’s final roster spot will have any bearing on the rest of the roster. The team appears to be using it as a revolving door to rotate players in and out via Exhibit 10 contracts in hopes of re-signing them to their G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue.

This has been the case with Sacha Kileya-Jones, Robert Woodard II, Jah’mius Ramsey, Jaden Shackelford, Abdul Gaddy and now Adam Mokoka.

All things considered, it appears the Oklahoma City Thunder already have their 15 roster spots figured out, but they will have until midnight on October 17th, the day before the start of the regular season, to make a final determination.

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