Thunder Have a Roster Good Enough to Stand Pat

The Oklahoma City Thunder have a roster that is worth staying pat at the NBA Trade Deadline with a team poised to contend.

May 13, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace (22) warms up before the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder in game four of the second round for the 2024 NBA playoffs at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Everyone is always in search of what's next. It doesn't matter that two months ago the Thunder made the two biggest moves of the offseason, what is the next acquisition to continue to flush out this Oklahoma City roster that seems to be on the verge of a run rarely rivaled already contenders with still one of the youngest cores in the NBA.

After adding Isaiah Hartenstein in a first of its kind Free Agent move for the franchise, and parting with 21-year-old former lottery pick Josh Giddey for a win-now upgrade in Alex Caruso the Thunder were catapulted from a fun story to Western Conference favorites, falling just behind the Celtics for the best odds to win an NBA championship.

Still, the attention for some turns to the NBA Trade Deadline and what holes may remain for the Thunder. The deadline represents the next benchmark to improve their roster with assets few can match to continue to bolster their roster.

However, the old adage still remains true to a certain extent - this team is still young and needs to figure out who they are and what they need. While everyone has turned the page to title contention, this roster is at a point where it is too good to make a massive splash at the deadline.

This is not to say that making slight upgrades - as the Gordon Hayward trade projected to be - isn't in order. Of course, if the Thunder still need help in the table setting department, or need to flush out a depth piece, Oklahoma City should absolutely be working the phones - and will!

But the idea the deadline will serve as a parting date for any of their valuable draft stash or young pieces seems like fools gold. For starters, no one is out there to be had at this moment - though, that is always subject to change in this league - and the real revelation on what this team needs will not been seen until after the trade deadline when it comes to big game hunting.

Perhaps it is obvious this team needs a better back up veteran point guard - something this scribe thinks is likely - by the deadline, but February will still be too premature to make a league-shifting move.

This is in combination with the Thunder still needing to figure out what Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams look like as the second and third options in the postseason as well as finding their groove with their newly acquired pieces as well as the projection of which stars could ask out at that time.

Short of some slam dunk disgruntled star requesting a trade by the mid-winter classic, this team is good enough to just stand pat at the deadline.

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