Opinion: Oklahoma City Should Add Another Center Out of Necessity

The Thunder need to shore up a shallow front court to continue developing the roster.

After Oklahoma City’s home loss to Joel Embiid and the 76ers, the Thunder’s glaring weaknesses seem to be looming large. An already thin front court, OKC is desperately missing the roster’s makeshift centers in Aleksej Pokusevski and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, but even beyond the injuries, the Thunder’s lack of a true center is proving costly.

Oklahoma City is still (clearly) a ways away from real playoff contention, but even outside of advocating for wins, the Thunder need a big man on the roster. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s ascension to stardom has allowed the Thunder to hang around as one of the NBA’s middling teams. If a recent slide continues, though, this season could quickly switch to the same pace of the last two seasons.

The loss to Philadelphia makes it three losses in four games. Adding insult to injury, the losses came during a stretch where the Thunder had a serious chance to make up some ground. The loss to the 10-27 Charlotte Hornets, followed by Saturday night’s blowout, Oklahoma City no longer has any momentum whatsoever. Without a big man, it’s simple. The Thunder get bullied.

In Charlotte, the Hornets front court enjoyed a walk in the park. P.J. Washington netted 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting, Miles Plumlee added 14 points and nine rebounds on 6-of-7 shooting and Jalen McDaniels chipped in 12 points off the bench. Rookie center Mark Williams, who appeared in his sixth ever NBA game against the Thunder, scored career-highs across the board with 17 points and 13 rebounds, recording a perfect 7-of-7 from the floor.

While Philadelphia, with Joel Embiid, is a much different look than the Hornets, Oklahoma City still struggled to limit the big man’s impact on the game. Embiid recorded a rare triple double of 16 points, 13 rebounds and ten assists, showcasing his ability to do so many different things. Montrezl Harrell also netted nine points and six rebounds off the bench. The 76ers scored 69 first-half points and led by 26, while the Thunder spent the remainder of the contest trying to make it look just a little bit closer.

If Pokusevski and Robinson Earl remain out for an extended period of time, Oklahoma City should do whatever it takes to add a big man to the roster. The team can only learn and grow so much when hindered by such a big disadvantage from tip-off. Josh Giddey and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander need a big man to advance certain parts of their individual skill sets, and growing as a core would be ideal.

Of course, Chet Holmgren was supposed to be that piece before going down with a season-ending injury. But now that it’s happened, and Oklahoma City’s front court took two more sizable blows, the Thunder must adapt and add another body on the roster. Not for winning purposes, not to push for the play-in, but simply to play basketball. Oklahoma City’s lack of depth at the position is hurting more than helping.

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