OKC Thunder MAX Chet Holmgren! How scary is the apron? Thunder Should DOMINATE the NBA Cup

OKC Thunder MAX Chet Holmgren! How scary is the apron? Thunder Should DOMINATE the NBA Cup

On today’s Locked on Thunder podcast, the Oklahoma City Thunder have resigned Chad Homegrren to a max extension. How he can continue to improve on this deal. And is the second apron really that big of a concern. You are Locked on Thunder, your daily Oklahoma City Thunder podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Let’s get it going on the Lockdown Thunder podcast on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. I’m your host, Mid Member, and Beat Writer for Thunder on SI Ryland Styles. Follow me on Twitter at Ryland_styles. Follow the show on Twitter at llo Thunderpod. Email the show lunderpodgmail.com. On today’s show, brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locknb at monarchoney.com for 50% off your first year. We’re talking about Oklahoma City maxing out Chad Homegrren, how he can continue to improve the second apron concerns that many of you have around the NBA regarding Oklahoma City and the NBA Cup was announced with Chad Homegrren and Blake Griffin as well as your mailbag questions. So, a loaded show today on the only Daily Thunder podcast. Subscribe anywhere you get your podcast from. We’re talking Chat Homegrren’s contract extension and the news officially broke today from Sham Sherani of ESPN. The Thunder have signed Chat Homegrren to a fully guaranteed 5-year max rookie contract extension that could reach $250 million. Obviously, uh the total we’ll see how it all shakes out, right? The cap increasing, uh the kind of goals that he has in that contract to to kind of escalate it. We’ll see what the official number is, but he did sign that max. And and the big thing here to note is what we’ve been talking about regarding him and Jaylen Williams this entire off seasonason. These first maxes like that’s the fun Max. That’s the no-brainer Max. If you if you have guys the caliber of Chad Homegrren and JDub, you don’t even consider it. I mean, you just hand it over and every player signs it, every team issues it, and you move on about your day. The wrinkle here for Oklahoma City is the second apron is the new CBA and and that’s caused a lot of uh fear-mongering especially from national folks about Oklahoma City. Look, is the new CBA restrictive? Absolutely. You can even question why the players agreed to it because they can call it whatever they want to. Second apron, first apron, it’s a hard cap. I mean, it it is a hard cap. and the Thunder have three very expensive guys now. They’ve already resigned Shay to his supermax. They’ve resigned Chad. And then you you imagine that Jub of course is coming down the pipe and they’re going to have three guys on a version of a Max contract. But if the Thunder can’t massage this and figure out how to sustain success, then no team can. Because as I told you before, the issue is not at the top. It’s not about Shay taking a pay cut. It’s not about Chad taking a pay cut or Jeb taking a pay cut. It’s about what you do past your big three. So, they’re going to have their big three locked in for the next five years. Now, they’re going to have to make some concessions. Seems unlikely that Isaiah Hardenstein’s on this team past this season. That’s where you have to hit on a guy like Thomas. you’re going to have to continue to hit on these draft picks coming down the road because it’s not about the top three guys and losing those. It’s how you replace guys four through 18. How do you replace guys four through 15? And the Thunder have done a great job so far of drafting costcontrolled talent who can contribute to winning. on last year’s 68 win team. The second round rookie, AJ Mitchell, was a staple of the Thunder rotation prior to his toe injury in January. As a rookie, AJ’s on a contract that tops out at $3 million a year. That’s how you keep the band together. That’s how you keep all this in motion. And it’s not as though they’re going to have the same 18 guys every single year. They’ve done a good job this season of of basically having the same roster as Dylan Jones, but once these extensions kick in, yes, there’s going to have to be concessions of like, well, you can’t really give iHeart another massive deal. Perhaps you have to make a tough decision on Lud Dort or Alex Caruso, but the Thunder have the security of a guy like Kase Wallace, for example. You can take your pick. This isn’t the pod to to purse through which one of those two guys you’d prefer to let go of. No matter if it’s Caruso or Dort, Kase Wallace is in the fold and able to step up and a and able to to fill that void. you’re going to have to draft behind Kase Wallace and have a guy ready for Kase Wallace’s departure. So, there’s going to be roster turnover. I’m not going to sell you a bill of goods that there’s not going to be uh ways that Sam Prey has to to work his magic and hitting on draft picks and getting in guys who are somewhat undervalued and turn them into contributors with his coaching staff, with his developmental organization. That’s going to have to happen. But fearing the second apron for Oklahoma City is a lot like fearing a shark in Kansas and not the tornadoes. Look, the the way that this comes crashing down for Oklahoma City is if they stop drafting exceptionally well and developing talent on the bottom of this roster. It won’t come crashing down because of the second apron. as Sam Prey was, you know, so transparent at his end of season press conference, they won’t even hit the repeater number until the next CBA cuz I think that the writing’s on the wall that they’re probably going to one side or the other is probably going to opt out as soon as possible in that what 28 29 uh summer opt out of this current CBA. So, so it’s not going to be about the second apron and they’re not going to lose JDub. They didn’t pick Cadet over JDub in my opinion. I mean, they’re going to resign all three of them. And what’s going to test the metal of this team and what’s going to test the sustainability of this team is going to be guys like AJ Mitchell. It’s going to be guys like Nicole Topic and Thomas Schwarber and Quase Wallace. Because if Schwarber is the player that that I think he is, I mean, I’m very high on Thomas pre-draft. I predicted he’d be drafted to Oklahoma City and he was. If Thomas Swer is as good as I think he is, well then he’s going to pick up where Hartinstein left off. And the names are different, but the caliber of play doesn’t really alter. The style of play doesn’t really alter. Where you get into trouble is like what happened to Denver. Denver kept their core around. They kept around Jokic and they kept around Jamal Murray and they didn’t move on from Michael Porter Jr. until this summer. But what changed? Calvin Booth could not at all draft his way out of a paper bag. He could not find talent on the cheap to support those top end guys. And yet for back-to-back seasons, they lose in seven games. And they’re on the brink of another West Finals push. They’re on the brink of another deep playoff run. and they’ve just fall short despite massive roster limitations because they have their guys at the top. And now they’ve moved on from one of those three who who, you know, have have underperformed at times to get Cam Johnson on a cheaper contract and allow them to flush out this roster with what they’ve done this off season. And that’s a team that, you know, heading into the summer, you’re looking at it like, man, what’s their avenue? what’s their path to to try to improve this roster and they made something happen. The Thunder on the other hand have the currency of the CBA and you know The Athletic has reported on this that Sam Prey was heavily involved in the CBA negotiations. No surprise that draft picks are the most meaningful part of basketball. Now, I’m not going to say that, you know, it’s more meaningful than a number one option. Clearly, you need to have a Yokic, a Giannis, a someone like that who can uh elevate you to a championship squad. You still need the superstar, but what you need along with the superstar is cast controlled talent. And the Thunder have as many possible bites at the apple to get those cast controlled talent guys and they have a proven track record of it. Yes, they’ve drafted really well and and they hit on JDub and they hit on Chad and they and uh those are guys at the top of their draft classes, but you look up and down this roster. They got Isaiah Joe off the scrap heap and he really helped them. They got Aaron Wiggins with the 55th overall pick. We made a big deal about last year’s 55th overall pick, but historically speaking, 55th overall picks are a footnote in history. And Aaron Wiggins helped you get to where you’re at. Jay Will’s a second round guy. Kendrick Williams was a throwin to the Stephen Adams trade. And people just wrote him off immediately, including myself just said, “Oh, he’s a throwin. You know, he’ll probably be gone uh once they continue to turn down this roster.” And instead, Williams has molded himself into a staple of Thunder culture into a staple of uh you know what this team’s identity is as a locker room presence. AJ Mitchell, second round guy. When when the draft card got turned in for AJ Mitchell, many people thought, including myself, that he get some time with the blue. And instead, from night one on until he got hurt, he was a focal point of a 68 win team’s rotation. Kase Wallace, when they drafted him, why are they drafting another guard? What what do they see in case Wallace? And now he’s proven to be a guy that can take the mantle and step up with upside. Thomas Schwarber again, he’s a natural Hartinstein Hartinstein replacement should he develop into the player that we think he can be. Brooks Barnheiser cut from the same cloth as a second round pick who’s going to start on a two-way deal just like AJ Mitchell did, just like Wiggins did. start on a two-way deal and see if he can play. And this isn’t the end of their cash flow. And in this case, cash being draft picks because again, draft picks are the currency of what’s going on. Oklahoma City still sits on a treasure trove of picks and controls some pretty valuable picks in the future in both the first and second round. And this is so well planned out by Oklahoma City that there’s no reason to fear sharks in Kansas. There’s no reason to let the boogeyman spook you about the second apron. The second apron is restrictive to teams that don’t give themselves options and resources and to teams who invest poorly. If you if you resign a a top three trio that hasn’t proven to be really worth it, that hasn’t proven to to to be max caliber guys, you’re going to be in a pickle. And you see in Memphis, I mean, Memphis not not bringing back Desmond Bane was in part because of the Second Apron because they know that that top three was not good enough and they were never going to be good enough and they couldn’t justify the spending necessary to bring them back. That’s where the second apron really hurts you is when you draft a core that’s a it’s pretty good. It’s a pretty good core and it squeezes you out. Boston for now is still in second apron, but they’re only like $400,000 away from getting out of it. And they’re out of it. They’re going to get out of it. They’re going to duck it, I believe, because of the Jason Tatum injury. If Jason Tatum was healthy, would they still make some cost cutting moves? Yes, but palatable ones like ones that would not have stopped them from being a contender if you could go back in reverse time and not get Tatum to be injured and have him be fully healthy for next season. So, that kind of stuff is out of their control. It’s out of the Thunder’s control. It’s out of the Celtics control. But, I promise you, if Jason Tatum was healthy, you’d be looking at Boston as contenders right now because they would have made different moves. They would have changed how they operated. So long as the Thunder’s top three guys stay healthy and Sam Prey continues to draft well, then the Thunder are set up to navigate these scary waters. The Thunder are set up for sustained success. And you can go ask any legitimate capologist, whether it’s Bobby Marks or Keith Smith or whomever, and they’ll tell you it’s a bit overblown the concerns about the Second Apron for Oklahoma City specifically because they’ve done it the right way. And there’s a level of luck involved in that obviously. I mean, Sam Prey admitted it himself of the luck that goes into drafting JDub of like, yeah, you’re just making a guess, hopefully a very educated one, hopefully a guess that you feel good about, but ultimately the player has to prove worth it. You hit on these two picks that proved to be worth it. Sheay is obviously worth it. And now that all came to be while having a historic draft capital uh future assets, it’s perfect timing and it is a perfect setup. And if for some reason the sustained success does not come for Oklahoma City, you can think of 20 different ways for that not to happen for the Thunder and for them not to be successful sustainably before you get to the second apron. So, don’t let the second apron spook you at all. Coming up, let’s talk Chad Homerren. Was he worth the max? How can he continue to get better uh and more? But first, I want to tell you right now, my good friends over at Monarch Money, go check out Monarch Money today. Because if you’ve ever wished that managing your money could feel easier, with Monarch Money, it can. Whether you’re growing your savings or planning a big purchase, Monarch puts you in the driver’s seat. It’s like having your own personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money is more than just a budgeting app. It’s a complete financial command center. You can track all your accounts, your investments, and spending in one place. So, in addition to managing your money, you can start building your wealth. So, whenever you go check out Monarch Money today, make sure that you use code lockdown NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchmoney.com lockdown NBA for half off your first year. I love the fact that everything’s in one app. It makes it so convenient to manage your money day to day. Make sure you check it out today at monarchmoney.com code lockdown NBA for half off your first year. 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 basketball. For your next lesson, go check out Lockdown NBA. How are they covering the Chat Homegr contract extension? With that being said, Chat Homegrren, of course, is extended to a 5-year deal worth $250 million that it could reach that number. We don’t know for sure that it’ll reach that number. And it’s completely worth it. It’s completely justified. Chad Homegrren played in all the 82 games in his, you know, rookie year after the after the red shirt season. Last year, he suffered a fluke injury. This is a guy who suffered two mind-boggling injuries in the sense of he got he had a Liz Frank fracture on a wet just unsafe unfit for play court in a prom game contesting a shot against LeBron James and he flies in the air to try to get a block against Golden State on November 10th and falls on his hip, shatters his hip and uh works his way back faster than even the Thunder thought he’d be back on the court and provides a valable role for Oklahoma City and their title run. Was it perfect? Of course not. He broke his hip on November 10th. And the discourse around Chad’s postseason, I think, gets lost at times, especially from those nationally because you you largely are looking at box scores. The Thunder did not win game three against Memphis without the second half of Chad Homer. They just don’t. That extends that series. I don’t think, of course, you’re in any jeopardy of losing that series at all. You would have just, you know, one and five and been done with it. But it it is important. The Thunder did not win the NBA finals without his defense in the finals. He he was elite defensively. The Pacers could not score at the rim. They could not score in the paint. They could not do it because of Chad Homegrren. He had multiple sequences where he where he’s sitting down on an island defending Pacer guards and shutting them down. Nimhard and Hallebertton. He’s one of the best defenders in the NBA. He’s a top three big man defender in the league with a just unbelievable work ethic and plenty of flashes to believe in his offensive game. If you go back and look at the strides that he made after one healthy offseason going from his rookie year to the start of last season, it’s jaw-dropping. You go back and watch, if you’re bored this summer, you go back and watch how he was moving on the court, how he was getting to his spots off the catch, how he was getting to the free throw line and generating points for this offense pre and post that night against the the Warriors November 10th. It’s jarring. If he didn’t break his hip and sustain that nine-game run over the course of the season, he was on an allNBA trajectory, all defensive trajectory, and an all-star. Like the things that happened for JDub would too have happened for Chad Homegrren without him breaking his hip. And the fact that he battled back to the court and helped this team win a title is massive. and did all that while the recipe, right, for for for the rehab process was being bedridden during the NBA season. He was bedridden and yet he still found a way to come back, rehab, and get going all in the same season. And this is no slight to Topic, but it’s just sometimes you get lost in having seen it with Chad. But what are we talking about with Nicole Topic right now? Oh, well, you can’t truly judge him because he hasn’t played in 14 months and he’s just getting his legs back under him. Yeah, Chad was bedridden. Bedridden for weeks on end. Rehabbed in rehabbed at the practice facility, jumped back in to live NBA games, starting games, playing in the playoffs, and winning the finals. You remove him from that with another offseason of work. The jump shot that was bad in the finals and bad in the playoffs largely I think stem from his leg strength which he obviously lost some because of the hip injury because you were bedridden. As you get further removed from that, I think at worst he’s going to develop into like this is this is the floor for for Chad in my opinion. An elite defender because he’s already top three at his position. An elite defender, which he already is. And then offensively, a high-end play finisher where he can hit the trailing three. He can knock down catch and shoot looks. He can he can roll to the rim and finish there as well. And at the ceiling of chat is a guy who can create his own shot in the mid-range, take it off the bounce at the top of the key and get to the rim and get fouled for an one, hit those turnaround touches at the elbow and at the at the blow block and be uh you know 25 a game 25 a game kind of guy at the ceiling. So that’s a really high floor and a high ceiling as well for Chad. And that’s why you invest in Chad Homegrren. That’s why you invest the max in him. And again, if if if I told you on draft night of 2022 that JDub would be an alldefensive member, an allNBA member, an all-star, and a number two option on a title team, that Chad Homegrren would be an elite defender, and that Shay would be an MVP, and for the third straight year finished top five MVP voting, and a scoring champion, and a finals MVP, West finals MVP, and be the number one option on the title team. You would say then this summer they need to be all maxed out and they have been. They’ve followed the exact plan laid out by Sam Prey picking these guys on draft night, letting them grow together and now the hard work begins because this was all easy so far. the decisions to to max out Shay Chat and then eventually JDub because Shams also says that the Thunder and Jub are are uh growing in momentum uh and signing him to the rookie extension. This is what it’s all about. The hard work now is to continue to put cost controlled pieces around them. And yeah, there’s going to be tough decisions. I mean, the day that Isaiah Hartinstein has to move on will be hard because he was a part of the first ever title team in OKC. He’s going to play a massive role next season where they might may or may not repeat as champions and then you’re going to have to move on from him in all likelihood. The writing’s kind of on the wall there, but your hope is that Thomas is awesome. And your hope is that the future draft picks that the Thunder have, which just in 2026 alone is the Rockets pick, you know, the Clippers, it’s it’s, you know, the the Sixers, if if they avoid the top four, there’s no real chance of getting that Utah pick and uh, you know, they have kind of a a race to the the Miami pick, if you will. But, I mean, like, you have all these different bites at the apple. if you’re Oklahoma City, even in next year’s draft. The year after that, they have Denver. They they they have uh Philadelphia. If the if this pick doesn’t convey, but I think that it will. Then in 2028, they have Dallas and Denver. And in 2029, they have Denver on their own. And then in 2030, they have Denver in their own. Like that they have these picks a plenty. That’s not even to mention second rounders, which they have 18 future second round picks. And they found value there. And then they also can use that value to of course go get readymade players at the deadline. How often do you see quality veterans get moved for a second round pick or two? They have everything that they need at their disposal to continue this run. and the alternative reality if you’re so worried about the second apron and I would love to hear what the option should have been from the national media who’s crucifying the second apron. The alternative reality is you don’t bring back one of the big three and you you overpay a role player. You try to draft another top three guy, which is exceptionally hard to do. Like there is no other reality here. It’s the cost of doing business. The Thunder are prepared for what’s ahead both financially and processually. I don’t think that’s a word. The process of replacing guys, but they’re not going to have to replace their top three. And again, if I told you on on draft night 2022 that all three guys would have this trajectory, would you sign on the dotted line to say, “Yeah, it might cost a role player or two and you might have to replace the Isaiah Joe spot and the Aaron Wiggins spot and the Lou Dort spot.” Lou Dort would be the of course the toughest cell. He’s he’s a massive fan favorite. But the Lou Dort spot, you’d sign the D line and you should and the Thunder should and the Thunder will. So coming up, let’s talk NBA Cup, which the Thunder should absolutely dominate. 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. And we’re talking NBA Cup. Prime Video, Amazon Prime, is now taking over broadcasting rights for the NBA. As you all know, it’s going to be a combination of ESPN, NBC/Pacock, and Amazon Prime Video. Amazon Prime Video has the rights to the NBA Cup and the NBA Playin tournament. And the Thunder saw their group get revealed today. Uh part of the reveal was Chad Homegrren. yucking it up with Blake Griffin, uh, who who is claiming to be a Thunder fan now. Obviously, he’s from Oklahoma, so that makes sense. Uh, but usually you see former players rep the teams that they actually played on. Uh, so it it’ll be interesting to see like how Blake Griffin’s coverage is shaped, if it is in a in a thunder lens or not, or if this was just a fun video, which it was. It was very fun. Blake Griffin started singing what a pro wants, what a pro needs at the end of it after smoking a cigar and celebrating his hometown team winning a uh championship. But the group have been announced and so the NBA Cup obviously you play four group stage games, the best of the groups and then two wild cards advance to the knockout round. Then if you win the knockout rounds you go to Vegas for the final four. If you win that, of course, you play an 83rd game in the championship like the Thunder did last year against the Bucks and they ended up losing uh that championship game last year to the Bucks. The dates will be as followed. The NBA Cup group stage begins October 31st, which is really interesting. It might try to shape like when the start of the season happens probably maybe earlier than we expect. Uh but they start October 31st and they wrap up November 28th for the group stage. And then the knockout stage is the 9th and the 10th of December. And then the semi-finals is the 13th of December. And the championships the 16th of December. The Thunder will be in group A. They’ll be accompanied by the Suns, the Timberwolves, the Kings, and the Jazz. The Thunder will host the Suns and Timberwolves. They will go to Sacramento and the Jazz in the NBA Cup. That’s the schedule, the dates and times announced later. Historically, it’s been in August for the NBA schedule to be released. And the Thunder should dominate this group. They should dominate. they should have another trip to Vegas in store. If they don’t, it’ll be either A, there’s injuries that we can’t predict, or B, they just didn’t care. And option B just doesn’t seem likely. I mean, everything that we know about this team is that they really really care about the 82 game season, the zero and zero mentality, the the the day-by-day nature of the grind of the season. So, you look at who they’re measured up against. I mean, the Jazz are nothing. The Suns are bad. The Kings are uninspiring at best. At worst, they’re dreadful. The Timberwolves losing to Alexander Walker will be interesting. The Timberwolves, of course, would be the biggest test for OKC, a divisional opponent who in the regular season last year was a was a bit of a fight for OKC, but they end up beating them in five games in the West Finals. The Timberwolves banking on, you know, after losing NA, they’re banking on Terrence Shannon Jr. becoming that stopper and he he had his moments and he played really well against SGA specifically in the regular season. So they’re an interesting threat, but you get them at home on that blue court uh which is going to be very loud. So I mean the Thunder group is very easy especially compared to the rest of the West. I mean group C in the West is a bloodbath. I mean in in soccer I believe I’m not a soccer guy. I’ll be honest with you. I’m not going to pretend that I get up at 6 am and watch Bridgetgerton or whatever it’s called uh to to see how the old uh Le is doing on the cross the pond. I don’t really care. I find soccer to be relatively boring. All due respect and you would call this a group of depth in the in the FIFA World Cup, which to me the NBA cup and the FIFA World Cup about the same. I know that I know it’s blasphemous around the world. Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, Portland Trailblazers, and the Spurs. Group C has an opportunity for everybody to win the group. And that sounds crazy because Portland’s in there. The thing about the NBA Cup is, you cannot discount motivation. young teams that really don’t have a championship to play for, they get really up for these cup games. It’s something different. It’s something exciting. There’s a goal at the end of it that you can reasonably obtain. And Portland and San Antonio is not so much in the in the Portland realm anymore. But San Antonio, another team that isn’t thought of as like legit contenders yet, but has a lot of young guys who are very good, just like Portland does. Like those two teams ferocious. Does Steph really care? Does Yokic really care? Does KD really care for Houston? To be determined. But I’m just saying if you had group C, everybody playing straight up and if they if they scouts honor swore that they’d all compete their butts off to win this thing. Group C is a bloodbath. It is the best group of either conference. So the Thunder avoid the group of death. Even group B has Luca. LeBron for now. Will LeBron still be there? DeAndre Aton with the Clippers who who have never cared about anything in life. Uh, the Grizzlies. Okay, not as motivating. And then the Mavericks with Cooper Flag and and the Pelicans. Mavericks and Grizzlies have the injury concerns heading in. I mean, the Grizzlies, this is starting on Halloween. So, the Grizzlies, you know, will likely not have Jiren Jackson Jr. or Zack Edy in in the group play. The Pelicans are a disaster. And then the two LA teams are too cool for school, although the Lakers have won an NBA Cup championship. So, the Thunder’s group is really a breeze. It’d be pretty shocking if they weren’t playing in Vegas. And uh we’ll see if we make the trip out there to Vegas. They should make it big in Vegas though, like a Buck Owens song. That’s the kind of content we’re talking today is NBA Cup group stages. And because we have to stretch the content, we’ll bump the mailbag to tomorrow. So, we have something to talk about then as well. You have a lot of great questions and maybe tomorrow uh we’ll have even more to talk about with some surprises, but who knows? You can never bank on that. So, we will bank on your excellent questions, which gives us excellent topics as the Vegas Summer League is still a couple days away for the Thunder to get in action. It starts on Thursday for the rest of the NBA primarily. But until then, be good and be good to one another.

Chet Holmgren’s $250 million max contract extension with the Oklahoma City Thunder raises eyebrows. Is this a game-changing move for the franchise’s future?

Host Rylan Stiles breaks down the Thunder’s bold decision, exploring its implications for the team’s salary cap and long-term strategy. The discussion covers second-apron concerns, Holmgren’s defensive prowess, and his potential to become a 25-point scorer. Stiles also analyzes the Thunder’s placement in Group A of the NBA Cup, featuring matchups against the Suns, Timberwolves, Kings, and Jazz.

Will Holmgren live up to his massive contract? Can the Thunder navigate future financial challenges while maintaining a competitive roster? Tune in for expert insights on Oklahoma City’s path to NBA dominance.

0:00 Thunder re-signs Chet Holmgren to max extension
5:08 Drafting cost-controlled talent key to Thunder’s success
10:46 Second apron concerns overblown for Thunder
16:22 Chet Holmgren’s impact and potential justify max contract
21:29 Thunder’s big three follow Sam Presti’s plan
26:37 NBA Cup group reveal and Thunder’s chances
32:14 Thunder’s favorable group in NBA Cup

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
Monarch Money
Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first year

Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuel
Right now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOThunder?sid=YouTube

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

#OklahomaCityThunder #OKCThunder #ChetHolmgren