Who is a THREAT to OKC Thunder in Western Conference? Jalen Williams Surgrey, Nikola Topic to PLAY

Who is a THREAT to OKC Thunder in Western Conference? Jalen Williams Surgrey, Nikola Topic to PLAY

on today’s Locked on Thunder podcast the free agency period opens in the NBA teams got better who’s the biggest threat to OKC and Sam Prey conducts his end of season press conference you are Locked on Thunder your daily Oklahoma City Thunder podcast part of the Locked Onet your team every day let’s get it going on the Lockdown Thunder podcast on the Lockdown Podcast Network your team every day i am your host medium member and beat writer for Thunder and Si Ryland Styles follow me on Twitter at ryland_styles follow the show on Twitter at llounderpod.od.od.od.od.od.od.od.od.od.od email the show lunderpodgmail.com on today’s show we’re diving into the Oklahoma City Thunder not signing any contract extensions as of this moment but Sam Prey did have his press conference stand this season on Monday and the rest of the NBA did get better on Monday who’s the biggest threat to OKC on today’s show brought to you by FanDuel right now new customers can get 150 bucks in bonus bets if your first $5 bet hits thank you so much for making us your first listen every single morning every single day here for you talking Thunder Basketball the only Daily Thunder podcast out there with Brener Debbar today joining us from dailythunder.com 1077 the franchise OKC dream team where you can find both of us brandon the whirlwind of a week is finally uh kind of cruising at altitude now after after the Thunder win a championship have a parade get through the draft get through the rookie intros make a trade make a couple extensions and Sam Prey talked today h how are you feeling now uh on the back end of that wild week
it is crazy to think that all those things that you said happened basically in a calendar week in one day I guess because it was a Sunday through a Monday all those things happened i think Thunder fans have just been soaking all this up and enjoying it i’ve been enjoying it quite honestly yeah it’s been like one thing to another to another to another like I tweeted out you know you’re still trying to like Thunder fans I think are still trying to juggle like watching clips of the parade with like highlights of game seven trying to catch up on Thomas Sorber and Brooks Barnheiser YouTube clips uh just trying to juggle it all because there’s been so much happening now you’re trying to catch up on the Sam Prey press conference uh so you got to slot in two hours for that uh but this has been a really really fun memorable banner week for Thunder fans
yeah it’s been a lot of fun and the Thunder did not get into the fun of Monday’s uh opening free agency period they didn’t even get to their extensions yet for their top three guys shay JDub and Cadet all eligible for extensions listen I I I think that the for sure the two JDub and chat will happen this summer with Shay we just don’t know asks him about it um at his press conference he rightfully wants to keep everything in house that’s fine so we just don’t know if if Shay’s going to wait and take the 5-year contract next summer or the four-year contract this summer the difference in that contract Brandon is $3 million let’s just call it uh it’s like $2 point something it’s It’s $3 million and to me if I was Shay he doesn’t have an agent right now maybe he wants some advice i would go ahead and wait because there’s there’s nothing that’s going to happen in this calendar year uh literally nothing that would change that offer to whether he’s still going to get the max contract next year no matter if he plays a single game or not next season so to me I just wait cuz why throw away $3 million even though it is in the grand scheme of things not a ton of money and the reason why I would wait is because five versus four years sounds different on paper but in terms of getting to the next contract it’s not any it’s not any quicker because if he signs the four-year deal right now he’d have to wait the two seasons of this current deal for that to kick in that’s six years away from free agency again and if he signs it next summer he’d have to wait the one season remaining on this current deal plus the five more which again is six seasons to where you know you’re not going to get to the next deal any quicker one way or the other to where you might as well take the extra money perhaps he doesn’t really care about the extra $3 million cuz at that point to him it’s like hundred bucks to you and I so I don’t know i would I wouldn’t be surprised to see him sign it now or later bobby Marks of ESPN who is a great capologist believes that he’ll sign it this summer so maybe that’s some hope that you can get all three done right now overall though there’s just there just shouldn’t be a ton of anxiety about will they or won’t they it feels pretty almost 100% that they all are going to sign this long-term deal
yeah I think it would be poetic if you know and fitting if they all three signed you know this summer or they all three signed at the same time that would be really really cool to see that said the main takeaway here is I’m with you like Shay is going to sign it’s just a matter of whether it’s this summer or it’s next summer he’s going to be here long term dub and Ched are going to sign they’re going to be here long term but you still want to see you know the Sham’s notification come across and you know the dopamine hit of when you see you know the big three remaining in Oklahoma City uh so I totally get it are you charging Sheay 10% for the advice that you’re giving him like I’ll tell him that for you know I might charge him for a future advice but first one’s free that’s getting in line to try to hook you in so first one’s free for Shay now after this the next counseling session I will charge him a little bit yeah but here’s the thing this Thunder team is in such a good position sam Prey has set this team up for long st term sustained success and of course that all starts with signing the big three to these you know long extensions and if you have Sheay the MVP of the league 26 years old turns 27 later this month you have Jdub uh 24 and you have Chad 23 who those two guys are going to get better you build around those guys you have all these draft picks uh the way that Sam Prey has constructed not only the roster of talent but the cap sheet around those big three uh is just he’s he’s he’s putting in such good work for this team to have this long runway of title contention years so you know the Thunder just won a title so things are exciting for Oklahoma City Thunder fans but uh the future looks really really bright as well
yeah i mean for for all we know by the time that that you’re listening to this that the contracts have been signed because you know you look at how they handled it a year ago as we talked about before the pod began like a year ago when they had to make the decision to to bring back Wiggins and Joe they did it the day after that free agency officially began at like 8:00 in the morning and then they went and signed Hartinstein and then they were then they were kind of done for the offseason and so the Thunder you know not slow playing this but like being one of the teams that has their stuff released later um is just par for the course so this is a 100% certainty that that all three guys are going to sign and I think that they think that you know you shouldn’t really worry too much about it i mean for Jada and Chad they’re on what’s known in the league as a fun max like you just hand it to everybody and and feel good about yourself and then for Shay it’s not a question of like if they’re going to offer it to him or if he’s going to sign it it’s a question of when of if you want to wait for that extra money uh next summer or you just want to take the money right now and that’s entirely up to to SGA himself and perhaps that uh you know the reason that taking the the money now wouldn’t be such a bad thing is because he did fire his agent at the All-Star break to where you’re not losing any agent fees so now that $3 million that you lose signing now versus later is even less consequential uh but who knows we’ll have to see how Sheay uh ends up going about that the only thing that you could you know necessarily pick at would be the idea that like a a non-extension this summer would linger into next year of just him being asked about it but even then it’s it’s a non-story because everyone we see it right now like the biggest names on the free agent market are not the best players like everyone signs their deal and then worries about stuff later on so I think that’s 100% certainty they’re all going to sign it i mean that this is why on Tuesday morning there’s going to be a column up there from me on ThunderSi about the drama-free of the Thunder off season being refreshing and the NBA which is built on storylines it’s built on drama it’s built on turmoil frankly that’s what sells and and especially um this time of year it it’s beca it’s becoming a transactional sport where a lot of people care more about the NBA these next two days than they do in October and in November and in February um and the Thunder are going to avoid all of that they’re not going to have any drama the biggest drama right now is me and Andy Pods having a source off i mean uh Andy Pods believes that that Payton Sanford’s on a two-way deal i’ve heard he’s on a E10 we’ll see who ends up being right i we both have reason to believe um that that that are sources if you will uh are in the no so we’ll see who ends up being on top but that’s a two-way contract that frankly um not even Andy Pods cares about i mean it’s just it doesn’t matter uh in the grand scheme of things as much as I love the G- League and love to a uh contract so you know it’s just kind of a a refreshing off seasonason for the Thunder that it’s literally over like the Thunder’s off seasonason is is pretty much over it’s just a matter of putting pen to paper for those three guys they they’ve cleared up the roster spot for Sorber uh they’ve gotten Brooks Barnheiser on a two-way contract they they they’ve made the trade for Dylan Jones to clear up that roster spot they’ve extended Jay Will with extended AJ Mitchell and to your point the capology nature of Sam Prey has been sensational i mean the fact that you have AJ Mitchell playing for $3 million a year is is a huge boost and it’s why you can keep this core together yeah that’s the thing like not only signing the big three obviously that’s that’s the biggest thing is those three guys but you’ve got like you said AJ Mitchell on this great contract J will now on this great contract of course Wiggins and Joe signed those great contracts last year Lou Dort it’s so funny when he signed that I think a lot of people realized it was a really good contract at the time there were some doubters though that thought it was an overpay obviously a great contract that Lou is on Caruso uh you know signed the long-term deal uh Hartinstein for a couple years that team for third year if you just go down the roster Kase Wallace on a rookie contract Nola Tovich on a rookie contract like so many value contracts kenri Williams I just randomly players pop in my head i’m like “Oh yeah that’s a good contract too.” Uh great contracts great values great players up and down this roster
coming up we did see teams in the West get better who’s the biggest threat to Oklahoma City but first I want to say right now my good friends over at FanDuel go check out FanDuel today because FanDuel’s great summer sports are in full swing whether you’re about baseball under the lights or golf on the green or high stakes soccer action FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting you are already following the action why not make it a little bit more thrilling with FanDuel you can get into the game with a with your friends or your buddies out there in the bleachers with FanDuel you can track your favorite matchups the app lets you have new promotions every single day for fun ways to bet you can have same game parlays and you can write out bets all the way through the ninth inning and if you’re new to FanDuel right now new customers can bet just $5 and if you win you get 150 bucks in bonus bets when you go to the FanDuel app or FanDuel.com today to get started perhaps you only really care about the NBA which is where a lot of us fall into don’t worry you can still make NBA bets the the Thunder CSGA as the number two favorite in MVP voting at plus 280 and to win the NBA championship the Thunder the favorites to repeat at plus 250 the Knicks are number two at at plus 850 and the Denver Nuggets at plus 850 as well tied for that second spot uh to win the NBA next season go check it out today at find.com we’re back on the Lockdown Thunder podcast on the Lockdown Podcast Network your teams every day thank you so much for making us your first listen every single morning every single day we’re here for you talking Thunder Basketball for your second listen go check out Lockdown Nuggets see what Matt Moore and them boys have to say about the the Nuggets and their great off season to this point i I I really think Brandon that when we see the moves trickling out two teams in the West have really up the ante uh in terms of threatening to win the conference and threatening to to be NBA title contenders it’s Denver and it’s Houston i’m very curious who you think is the bigger threat to OKC because to me clearly a lot of flack for this uh not a lot but a pocket of flack for this because anytime you win a championship a fan base is 10 feet tall they’re immortal they’re invincible uh they’re punch drunk on a championship but the reality is uh Denver has the best player in the world and they have a a stylistic play that is difficult to match up with for anybody but especially difficult for this Thunder team to match up with i I think that you know saying it on yesterday’s pod to preview the offseason that if they made a couple marginal moves they instantly become uh the this the biggest threat to OKC i think that they did that in trading Michael Porter Jr for Cam Johnson uh I love Cam Johnson that’s been well documented on this show i think that he’s a a better defender than Michael Porter Jr i think that at at worst he’s the same shooter as Michael Porter Jr and gives you just a little bit more on the offensive end overall look even if you consider those two players as equals and those two players as a wash in terms of upgrade it opens up the door to bring back Bruce uh to to this team and I know that Bruce has not been the same since leaving Denver but by the same token we can’t sit here and say like for role players oh they’re more comfortable at home and it’s all about comfort and then act like he can’t get close to where he was a couple of seasons ago when he’s back in a comfortable organization and oh yeah playing next to Jokic who automatically makes players better uh and playing on a winning team that has a chance to actually win a championship also changes things do I think that he can get back to the exact one forone version of his 2023 self no but I think they can get very close to it to be a nice contributor for Denver and I also love Don Holmes and so like all those three things uh makes me really interested in this Denver squad with that being said OKC is still the favorite to me OKC is still in a tier of their own but in terms of who threatens them I think that Denver is number two and Houston is number three but Houston in their own right Brandon made a lot of good moves i mean I love Dorian Finny Smith i of course getting KD with the bucket getter uh they even signed Clint Capella today to to add even more front court depth who do you view as the biggest threat to OKC yeah it’s it’s easily those two teams and to me it is clearly OKC in their own tier and then the Nuggets and Rockets in the next tier and they’re by themselves at this point uh we’ll see what happens for the rest of the off season but I do think that those two teams obviously have gotten much better look the Rockets were the number two seed last year and their biggest weakness was that they didn’t really have a true bucket getter like Jaylen Green highs were really high watch it
lows were really low very boomer some nights he looked like the number two overall pick some nights he did not look like the over number two overall pick and in the playoffs obviously that’s not a good formula for winning now you replace him with KD one of the best scorers of all time who’s still by the way really really good elite player so I think that that’s such a huge upgrade and obviously you lose Dylan Brooks but then you get Dorian Finny Smith who you know at worst you want to say they’re a wash like you know so I think the Rockets clearly got better adding Capella I guess they’re going to go double bigs both with their starters and their bench now like are you starting like Shenun and Adams and then uh I don’t know they’ve got so many bigs there now uh with the Rockets but I do think that the Nuggets flipping Michael Porter Jr for Cam Johnson obviously I do think it’s a slight upgrade um their their shooting numbers are actually very similar their scoring numbers their shooting numbers now the net the Nets weren’t nearly as good they didn’t have a Jokic so the looks that Cam Johnson was getting versus the looks that Michael Porter Jr was getting obviously are different michael Porter Jr is a better rebounder cam Johnson’s a better playmaker uh a little bit better defender I think as well so I do think that Cam Johnson is an upgrade um the thing is and I know they get Bruce Brown back obviously that’s great but at this point he’s kind of replacing Russell Westbrook and say what you want about Westbrook but he was very big for them off the bench they needed him i think that they still have that same problem they had last year at least in the regular season and that’s depth because right now at this point you’ve flipped Michael Porter Jr and Russell Westbrook for Cam Johnson and Bruce Brown and that’s a net overall positive I believe i think for sure um but the depth I think is still an issue so right now I see what you’re saying and I see matchups and all those things i would say regular season I expect the Rockets to be better but who would you know I fear more in the playoffs i’d probably still lean Jokic and the Nuggets yes
yeah and I think that that’s where the Rockets moves uh have been great for them and and I think that their front office has hit it out of the park each side has accomplished their goal of getting closer to a championship denver and Houston both have and they’ve both done it in ways that are very are very um easy pass to to that championship in the sense of execution wise uh for for their specific rosters we mentioned all the ways that that Joic can improve the Cam Johnson’s of the world and the Bruces of the world but for the for the Rockets this is a team that’s proven to you that they know how to win in the regular season i I have no concerns over Houston in the regular season which means that they should be able to do what OKC did without Caruso just like understanding that Kevin Durant is immensely more valuable to them come playoff time than he is in the regular season do whatever it possibly takes to get him to April healthy and then insert him into that lineup fully and and hope that you get the three-month marathon of him being healthy and a bucket getter for this roster that was desperately needing one last season and I think that Dorian Vinnie Smith is an addition that again sitting from the mountaintop from OKC you can look down upon but yes has he lost a step defensively as a point of attack guy certainly and I’m a and I will admit my bias on the front end i’m a huge Dorian Penny Smith fan shout out to the Mavs legend but he’s lost a step defensively as a point of attack guy in Houston he’s not going to have to be their top point of attack defender he’s going to have to just be a really really really good offball player who can switch into actions off of screens which he still can do at a high level defensively and so I think that the the nature of who he’s playing with uh heightens his defense on top of his raw skill set which has diminished a little bit from his peak but is still really good and then the three-point shooting which I think is better than Dylan Brooks of just 45% in the corner last year from three 37% in the non-corn corner he shot 44% with the Nets and and 40% with the Lakers uh last season from beyond the arc and so like that play finishing is a big deal uh to add to this Rockets half court offense especially like you said they’re going to have to play double bigs you’re gonna need guys who can knock down the three off of your main players such as spray outs from Changun and and and of course the attention that Kevin Durant brings as a score so I think that Dorian Finny Smith very underrated addition for Houston and I think that sometimes we can get caught up in like the the immediate frenzy of all these moves happening this is the first of two transactional windows uh before the playoffs next season and they’ve kept a lot of their powder dry at this moment where they can go make another um addition at the trade deadline if anything presents itself to help bolster their roster at that time they they’ve done a really good job of resigning even some guys who perhaps you don’t need uh you know in the sense of like you don’t need them to help you win games but you’re going to need them in February to match contracts and to and to execute trades and so I think that they’ve done a good job of keeping that pattern dry with the assets they have moving forward to make this roster even better as this off season and as this season progresses so I think that Houston and Denver clearly a tier in their own right uh and and the the two biggest threats to Oklahoma City next season while saying the Thunder are the absolute favorites i mean the Thunder if if they’re healthy next season they’re the favorites uh and that they are the best team in basketball still but it’s very hard to it’s very hard to repeat sam Pressie talked about it today as we’re going to talk about coming up of his of his press conference that the last few winners of a championship they don’t make it past the second round just because of what it does to you to go on these long playoff runs uh and how hard it is to repeat but this Thunder team is very uncommon they need to be uncommon again if they hope to become the first repeat winners since those Warrior teams we we’ll see now coming up let’s talk about what Sam Prey had to say today at his end of season interview we’re back on the Lockdown Thunder podcast with the Lockdown Podcast Network your teams every day thank you so much for making us your first listen here lockdown Thunder go check out Lockdown Rockets uh with Jackson Gatlin over there after their big editions on Monday we’re talking with Brennan Robbar daily thunder.com i’m Ryland Styles and Brandon we did sit there for the two-hour marathon of Sam Presley’s exit interview for this championship season first time that he’s had a State of the Union address as an NBA champion and so that that that was great uh just for him personally as a guy who obviously has been doing this for the entire tenure of Oklahoma City uh basketball year professionally and he finally got to that mountaintop what stood out to you about Sam Prey today i think there were a few things but the thing that jumped out the most was when he said that Jaylen Williams had a torn ligament in his wrist and he played the entire playoffs in the end of the season with torn ligament in his wrist and JDub goes out there and he’s the Thunder’s second best scorer second playmaker he’s an elite defender versatile has a 40point game in the NBA finals hits you know the biggest bucket arguably in the Denver series uh he was just phenomenal he he kind of rose to a superstar level and he did all this with basically a broken wrist uh and and the fact that Sam said you know sometimes in this modern era when a player isn’t 100% and maybe you could use that as an excuse uh to to kind of explain why you weren’t playing up to your potential little birdie will kind of leak that out there and let everybody know hey he’s not 100% but JDub never did that he never used an excuse never said anything about it he just powered through to me there’s a lot of things to take away from the San Pre press conference which I enjoyed uh thoroughly but to me the Jada that was just kind of like a bombshell like whoa you know he was with a torn ligament he’s the second best player on a championship team that is incredible yeah i mean we knew that his wrist was hurting him and ailing him but the torn ligament is really impressive and to Sam’s point it is really impressive that never got out because I just think of if you if you’re looking for ways to to attach a tangible outcome to the the catchall phrases that Mark says about this team having uncommon maturity and that Sam Prey said after they won it of you know age is a number but maturity is a characteristic and and all that stuff it is the fact that look back to game six in Denver game six in Denver where where JDub had a horrendous horrendous box score and everybody is crucifying him if you remember that that was the first time all playoffs that you had consecutive days off the the first round series was every other day you had the break and then you played Denver every other day until game six to game seven was consecutive days off and that was a lot a lot of scrutiny leading into game seven for JDub where it would have been easy for a guy who who could have just leaked to anybody anyone to say “Hey put this out there that like you know I have a torn ligament in my wrist and this is why like like it it has not looked smooth in the in the uh second round against Denver.” And instead keeps it under wraps doesn’t want to talk about it we tried to ask him like “Hey you’re wearing a lot of tape you look like you’re holding your hand a lot like what’s going on?” And he and he always deflected always deflected never made it a story uh goes and has a a great game seven a great Western Conference finals and a and a 40-point game in the NBA finals where uh he proved to be the number two option on a title winning team uh like that’s very uncommon because Sam is right i mean we all know that like players have their guys that they leak to uh nationally like you know you have Dame with Chris Haynes etc and it would have been easy for JDub to leak this out or someone to leak this out for on his behalf and the fact that that it was intentional for them to never have that out there um during the run was impressive as an injury that he suffered before the playoffs even began i mean he suffered it in Phoenix one of the last games of the season that he played on the back to back after playing LA and from that point forward they got him rest they knew he needed surgery you know at that time and away he went of of not you know of not complaining about it
yeah i uh I just think that it’s also notable that if you go back the biggest question mark from the outside about this Thunder team was can JD be that number two guy on a title team and not only did he answer that in a huge way yes but he did it with a torn ligament in his wrist like that is so incredibly impressive
yeah and I mean you go back and listen to our shows of on on this show on OKC Dream Team on all the platforms where we’re highlighting the ways that he’s improving with his mentality with his force around the rim with his assertiveness as an onball threat and he’s he’s getting better and improving in those ways that we saw in real time with a torn ligament in his wrist that we didn’t know about uh and so it’s like if you wondered why the turnovers got sloppy at times that wrist was clearly really ailing him and so he’s going to continue to progress and continue to get better and obviously Chad Homegrren he he battled back from a hip fracture quicker than even the Thunder thought he’d get back on the court and uh he did not have his his agame offensively especially in the finals but defensively you don’t make it through the playoffs and you do not win the championship without his defense and uh he’s going to continue to round into form like these two guys are going to continue to get better and that’s why the Thunder can you know set themselves apart i’m not saying that they’re going to but they if there’s any team that can buck the trend of of being uh a repeat winner it can be Oklahoma City because of the natural internal improvements for this team and the and the want to improve internally in the sense of these are still you know unestablished guys in the in the grand scheme of things like JD made all NBA this season but he wants to continue to get better like his to me from the outside looking in he doesn’t seem satisfied with just being an allNBA guy like he wants all of it and so like Chad Homegrren you don’t ever question what he wants in this league and and he hasn’t had the chance to be an all-star or a chance to be an allNBA player because of the injuries because he was a rookie last year he just hasn’t had the opportunity yet and he’s going to want those kind of accolades and that kind of success and we know how much that basketball means to him to where it’s like those two guys at the head of the snake are going to continue to strive and work and work and work even after winning a championship shay’s gotten better every single year of his career i’m done putting a ceiling on them you know he he improved his playmaking this season if he improves his three-point shot for example this summer then he’s another step ahead of where he already was as one of the most impressive guard seasons we’ve ever seen in the history of the sport statistically so I I just think that that that’s what sets the Thunder apart the other newsy part before we get into like actual quotes and like sentiments from from Sam Nicole Topic will play in summer league first chance to get to actually watch him in a Thunder uniform will be very fun starting on Saturday I mean I I don’t have any reason to believe he won’t play on Saturday in Salt Lake City which is where they typically play their their returning players and in a way Topic of course is a returning player even though he hasn’t played yet uh so Salt Lake City Saturday that’s going to be a lot of fun to see what he’s got on the court thomas Sor the first round pick for the Thunder this year will not play in summer league he’s he obviously dealt with a injury uh to his foot at the end of the season to shut him down he’s just not ready to get on the floor there’s no point to rush that and you know with big men feed injuries you don’t ever want to uh hurry that along and Sam Prey explained it thoroughly which I think was was great and it’s another feather in Sam’s cap of being very transparent unlike other front offices where he talked about how you know the the nature of the pre-draft process of you’re flying here you’re flying there you’re working out for this team you’re interviewing with this team it’s just not very conducive to just straight rehab to where you know you can’t just attack it and get ready to play for July’s summer league after having your season ended early and he’ll he’ll be ready both guys Jada and Sorber should be ready for the start of next season obviously Jabb will undergo surgery soon and uh we don’t know what that looks like in terms of like media day and training camp but Sam did make a point to say that he’ll be ready for next season so we’ll see a firmer timeline timeline I would imagine in the coming days after that surgery unfolds for JDub also Peyton Sanford like he is another guy that had a season ending injury double shoulder surgery it seems unlikely that he’ll play in summer league with double soldier surgery but I’m not a doctor didn’t play at a uh didn’t didn’t stay at Holiday in Express or whatever the the catchphrase is brand that was kind of before my time that was more your era uh of that brian Barnheiser is gonna play though after he also had a season in the injury the Thunder had a lot of guys season in the injuries but Brian Barnharder uh he said at his at the rookie intro presser he’s excited to play so it sounds like he’s going to give it a go for summer league we’ll get we’ll get the official summer league roster uh later on this week but now Brandon let’s talk about what Sam had to say anything from his sentiment his o his overall mindset that stuck out yeah you know in in classic Sam Presley fashion he deflected any sort of credit you know because he was asked you know like about his role in taking you know this team to a championship and also what his role in like the building and leadership of the city and state and of course Sam Prey is all those things he has been the architect of this team he’s taken two teams from the ground floor and made them contenders and you know he’s the architect of this you know second youngest team in NBA history to win a title so he could take that but but he deflected the credit going back to you know the old mayors of Oklahoma City uh Ron Noric and and Mick Cornet who you know made it possible for the state to have the team in the first place and the fans and the community and Clay Bennett and you know the leadership of the city of the state and the organization um so uh and with with that theme in mind I think the other thing that stood out was you know hearing Sam talk about Oklahoma and how you know Oklahoma didn’t need this you know championship trophy to validate the state and how you know the things that are really important in life you know this state is long on those things you know it’s it’s not short on on anything uh I just thought it was cool to hear Sam Prey talk about you know this team being a reflection of the state and the values of the state and how this particular team this group of guys these players these personalities on the team you know the way that they won the championship was more important to him than the fact that they actually won the championship so you know that was kind of the theme the overall theme to me was you know the the state the team the people the the leadership of of the all those involved uh besides himself because he’s not going to give credit to himself but to everybody else
yeah I think that if you’re in Oklahoma you should go listen to Sam’s press conference it’ll give you the warm and fuzzies a little bit uh if if you are an Oklahoma I I thought from a basketball standpoint uh he he kept referencing this stat that uh they only had their healthy roster for you 8.5% of their games and I asked him to contextualize that a little bit and he he just kind of said that you know they were third or fourth in in most minutes lost due to injury behind Dallas Philadelphia uh and then he said one other team uh but I I I do think that when you look at it people when it first you know when we first talked about his initial reference point of that stat people took it the wrong way and that’s why I asked him to contextualize it is because like this is how it relates to the rest of the league and also he mentioned how he did not bring that up as an excuse or to make it seem like the Thunder had to walk uphill to school both ways but to to highlight how that actually forged them he said uh and accelerated our team uh is what is how Sam put it uh because of the adversity they had to go through to grow together with a roster that was not healthy for a large part of the season and then luckily for them they were healthy in the playoffs uh that they were able to to play more games and he highlighted this whenever he whenever he thanked the medical staff it’s very rare that you play the most games that you play with a healthy roster and your in your full um complnt of players is in the playoffs versus the regular season whenever you have 82 regular season games and of course you’re not guaranteed much of a playoff season heading into it so I do think that that was an interesting stat that Sam threw out there and then just as another way to frame something that you always hear us talk about you always hear Sam talk about and Mark talk about uh and that is the human element of like people over players and the sacrifice etc uh he was asked about Jill and he he gave a great story of the night that Chad broke his hip November 10th against the Warriors obviously Jill and Hartinstein were already out so that they were in street clothes they weren’t playing so they helped him off the floor and and helped him to the back room and he and he said that you know they got him off the floor which which this part I think is noteworthy first when when when Hart and Jay will go out there and they and they get Chad off the floor and they walk him toward the tunnel Chad seems very put together for what we now know as a guy that just broke his hip he’s given a thumbs up to the crowd and he seems very put together and the tunnel that he that they walked him to is quite literally a hallway into the locker room and and and Chad couldn’t make it back there to the locker room they had to stop um and you just wouldn’t have known that without Sam sharing a light on that and Sam went as far as to say that in all of his years of doing this and so Sam has been around a long time with the Thunder like every year the Thunder’s existence in a year in Seattle but also with those Spurs teams and around the NBA for quite some time i mean I mean he’s spent over half his life in the NBA and Sam said in all his years of doing this he’s never seen a player as hurt and as in as much pain as Chad Homegrren was in and how uncomfortable it was to just be there for how much pain that chat was in and I I think that it’s it’s a emotion from Homegrren that we assume happened um but because on the court what we saw with our own eyes was a very put together thumbs up guy that you just forget how much excruciating pain that had to be to break your hip um on on the hardwood and the pain that he was in that Jill and and Isaiah Hartinstein both made it a point to stay with Chad and be there for him in that moment in that very uncomfortable moment where where you almost feel helpless because you know someone that you obviously care about love teammate etc is in so much pain that they made it a point to be there with them and they could be there with them because they were already hurt and uh kind of detached from the game itself and and be there to support um Chad and along with that he talked about Hartinstein and it this is a guy that has a huge resume in basketball and says he’s never seen a player integrating themselves within a community as quickly as Isaiah Hartinstein has hasn’t I wrote a story uh an exclusive interview with Heart and Silent Thunder NSI about his foundation and about why like why the why has he jumped full in to Oklahoma City um for for a guy who was only is only guaranteed to be here for for a short amount of time and uh I I thought it was great insight on those two guys specifically as people and just kind of another uh tangible example of how that’s not just lip service where they talk about people over players they talk about the human sacrifice they talk about um you know what these guys are like as people yeah Sam said that that was the greatest show of team support he’s ever seen and he doesn’t know if it’ll ever be topped um you know talking about Jay Will and Hart and going back to Hartinstein and his you know being ingrained into the community i think we all saw you know uh his work with foundation the Hartinstein Foundation and his work with Positive Tomorrows if you haven’t seen Royce Young’s tweet uh you know from Positive Tomorrow’s Instagram the story about how he actually went to a play after he went to Positive Tomorrow’s hours later a little girl asked him uh you know if he’d come and watch their play and he actually showed up and watched their play i just that was incredibly uh I think telling of the kind of guy that Hartinstein is u
and telling because like he just won a championship and I say that because like yes you’re very excited you won a championship but that is a sacrifice of being away from your and OKC but they’re all from all over the world and they want to get back to uh their extended family and like the the people who don’t live in OKC and uh guys want to get out of it’s not an Oklahoma City thing it’s just an NBA thing they want to get back to where they’re actually from as soon as possible especially in an offseason which will naturally be shorter i mean we’re not far away from media day in September and the fact that he stayed at you know those extra few days and when he’s still here and staying here he goes to this play um because it means so much to you know this organization and those kids it just again is a is a great showing of who these guys are
yeah and then uh another thing that stood out to me about Sam’s Presser uh on a light-hearted note he was asked about his jazz rap albums from the ‘9s uh and he confirmed that it’s true that he did release he he confirmed he released two did you know there were two Ryland i only knew about one
so I only knew that there were two because John Corales of Lockdown Celtics is a Emerson guy and so he knew it he knew he John Corales listen if you want to bug somebody make your second lesson locked down Celtics and go comment to John Corales that you need to listen to Milk Money he has Milk Money in his possession he shows it off to me non-stop he will not give it to me uh he has a physical copy of the CD and it still works it still plays he still listens to it today
he needs to put that thing on eBay he can make it be a big seller but Sam Sam said it’s a little embarrassing but you have to be able to laugh at yourself it was a real fun light-hearted moment i thought it was great when he
Sam get over yourself it’s not embarrassing it was a great The snippet that Pablo Tori put out was a great snippet this guy this guy’s a champion he’s a four He’s a four-time champion now in basketball he’s jacked he’s He’s a millionaire get It’s It’s not embarrassing okay may I buy that the break dancing could be embarrassing that he’s talked about from whenever he was eight but the jazz thing was a It’s an awesome clip that we’ve heard maybe the rest of the album sucked but the clip we heard was great and uh you know it’s just awesome though that that he has all these different avenues to express himself but this was a lot of fun yeah if if that if that was me the clip that I heard if that was my album I’d be blasting all over all over the place i’d be tweeting it out
be putting on the Bluetooth speakers everywhere
i’d be on Spotify
yeah you’d be getting uh Soundcloud plays and etc but thank you royalties
yeah thank you everyone for listening to this show i I I made a promise myself that we’re not going to go long today and we went long today but it’s okay it’s it’s still coming down from the championship high brandon thank you for joining us

Oklahoma City Thunder’s offseason strategy takes center stage. Will key players sign extensions, and how will the team navigate the competitive Western Conference landscape?

Rylan Stiles and Brandon Rahbar analyze the Thunder’s quiet free agency, potential contract extensions for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams, and the impact of other teams’ moves. The duo breaks down Sam Presti’s revealing press conference, uncovering insights on injuries, team culture, and long-term planning. From Chet Holmgren’s development to surprising personal tidbits about Presti, this discussion covers it all.

Discover why the Thunder had their full, healthy roster for only 8.5% of games and how it affected their season. Tune in for expert analysis on OKC’s path forward in the NBA.

0:00 Free agency opens, Thunder’s biggest threats
5:42 Thunder’s bright future with core players
15:14 Analyzing Nuggets and Rockets as top threats
22:48 Jalen Williams played playoffs with torn ligament
28:30 Nikola Topic to play in Summer League
33:30 Sam Presti’s press conference highlights
38:58 Isaiah Hartenstein’s community involvement in OKC

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