Thunder Entering 2021-22 Season Without Center of the Future Is Not A Problem

While the OKC Thunder don’t have a young, promising center on the roster, it shouldn’t be an issue.

The Oklahoma City Thunder to this point seem comfortable moving into the 2021-22 season without their center of the future. After letting Tony Bradley walk in free agency and trading away Moses Brown, they no longer have a young big on the roster.

While they have a ton of young depth at the forward position with guys like Darius Bazley, Isaiah Roby, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, none of those players are a true center.


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Coming into NBA Summer League earlier this month, it would have made sense to acquire a young center to start developing. However, the Thunder went to Las Vegas without a center on the roster at all.

Their two tallest players were Robinson-Earl and Oscar da Silva, who are both 6-foot-9 forwards. While they can play small ball center in limited minutes, neither are a viable option at the NBA level.

For Oklahoma City, there’s certainly no rush to acquire their cornerstone center now. They likely won’t win many games this year and will have a shot to draft the premier big in the 2022 NBA Draft.

For now, they can roll out Mike Muscala and Derrick Favors at the five while utilizing some of their young forwards in situational small ball lineups.

With all of this in mind, there shouldn’t be any concern about the Thunder not having their center of the future on the roster right now. 


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Nick Crain
NICK CRAIN

Nick has spent the last four seasons covering the Oklahoma City Thunder and has grown quickly in the media since starting. He’s continued to produce Thunder content through writing for Forbes.com and podcasting with The Uncontested Podcast, as well as branching out to cover the NBA as a whole for SLAM Online.