The best of the West's offseason
These days, NBA franchises don't need a Lyle gun to grab hold of Oklahoma City. Not only were the 64-win Thunder nearly matched in the regular season by the 62-win San Antonio Spurs, the Thunder were topped by San Antonio in the Western finals.
The Thunder were up for the NBA's first back-to-back title in eight years, way up. It was a championship defense unlike any other in recent NBA history, a 11-points per game positive scoring differential, an 8-0 postseason start, toppled in the third round.
I mean, was it?
Injuries are part of the game, but "part of the game" usually means "in January." The second-best player on the defending champions typically isn't absent for nearly all of the deciding series. That isn't a Chet Holmgren joke, and San Antonio's triumph deserves a frontal lobe-asterisk due to Jalen Williams' lost Western finals.
So Chet dropped a pantlode against the Spurs. These things may not matter if the man who makes every little thing happen for Oklahoma City wasn't literally hamstrung. If Scottie Pippen sat out most of a series, I wouldn't worry about how badly Horace Grant played without him.
And Horace would have been terrible.
Working 200 games at a championship level is tough. No NBA team's managed it since Kevin Durant's Golden State Warriors (designated as such because of how weird it was to see Kevin Durant playing basketball for Stephen Curry's team). We thought the Thunder sussed this problem out by working only eight games in the first thirty-five days of the 2026 postseason, a massive accomplishment which shoulda cured all ailments, healed every heel.
Not enough time for hamstrings, it turns out. We can send humans to the moon but can't cure hangovers and hamstrings. And, no, preventative potassium does not count. Would you tell a hungover Buzz Aldrin he should eat more bananas?
The Thunder tax bill hovers and Nikola Topic hasn't hit yet, Thomas Sorber might be a year away, Adam Mara looked rough in summer league and I don't really like the Thunder's other rookie and Jared McCain wants a contract next year. There are not two timelines at the moment, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander just lost three of his favorite teammates.
Yet I can't help but conclude the Thunder pitched the best postseason this summer because the Thunder will be healthy in fall.
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
LOST: Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, Luguentz Dort, two second-round picks (moving up a spot in the draft from No. 16 to No. 17).
IN: Adam Mara (No. 12 pick), Bennett Stirtz (No. 16 pick), two second-round picks (for Wiggins), two second-round picks (for Joe) and three second-rounders for Dort.
KEPT: Isaiah Hartenstein (three years and $75 million with a mutual option of Oklahoma), Brooks Barnhizer, Kenrich Williams (one year at $5 million).
STILL OUT THERE: Cason Wallace and Ajay Mitchell are due for extensions.
