This is PERFECT for the Thunder…

This is PERFECT for the Thunder…

Things have lined up perfectly for the Oklahoma City Thunder and 15th overall pick Thomas Sorber as his role with the team may not be large this season, but the season after you can bet your bottom dollar he is going to have a significant role with the Oklahoma City Thunder. When you look at his size, his length, all right, his athleticism, and his overall basketball ability, he is the Isaiah Hartstein replacement. We’ve talked about it before on the channel how Isaiah Hartstein, this is going to be his last season. And Thomas Sorber being drafted by the Thunder is a sign of this happening. If you haven’t come to terms with it yet, you need to now. This is Isaiah Hartenstein’s last season. Thomas Sorber is going to replace him. This has always been the thought when he originally signed his contract a year ago. Now, he he was not going to be the team more than two seasons. He had that three-year contract where it’s a team option at at three at uh year three, but really it’s only two years guaranteed. This is his second year. This is the last guaranteed year of his deal. The Thunder are more than likely going to decline it. All right, 99% chance they decline it to save money to avoid the second apron penalties for the next few seasons as he’s going to be making almost $30 million in that team option. But Thomas Sorber is the perfect replacement for him and I’m going to explain why in today’s video. Before we get into all that though, quick moment to recognize that 64% of you guys watching these videos are not yet subscribed to the channel, but yet you’re coming back on a regular basis. If you enjoy the content that we put out here at Thunder Digest and you want to support the channel, but you don’t know how to, the best way to do that is just by hitting that subscribe button. With that out of the way, let’s go ahead get in talking about Thomas Sorber and his future role with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He had a great year at Georgetown. He did. His freshman year, he’s 19 years old. All right. He had a fantastic season averaging 14 points a game. He was my second best big man in the 2025 NBA draft class. I think he was better than common Malawok. I still think Derrick Queen was the best big man in the draft, but he was drafted to a horrible situation. So, it really just depends, you know, like the Pelicans can use him correctly, and I don’t think they can. I think if it went to the Thunder, he could have been used correctly. But that’s besides the point. Thomas Orver, second best center in the draft in my opinion. We look at skill set and overall feel on the court. second best center, one of the best prospects in the draft as well when you look at his potential and it kind of shows in everything that he does. But I’m not the only one that thinks this. Michael Stamps over at Sports Illustrated kind of talking about his role for the upcoming season. Obviously, he has Chad Holgren, Isaiah Hartenstein, and likely Jay Will ahead of him, at least to start the season. This should lead to him starting the season in the G-League. Sharing the court with the players named above will be a challenge. So, his main option is to separate and differentiate himself from them. He has ability to do so, but it won’t be all that easy. One of the most intriguing traits that Sorber brings to the table is his playmaking ability. He has great decision-making and vision for the center position, especially uh while in the post in a similar fashion what I Hartinstein and Williams can do as the hub of OKC’s offense. Sorber has the chance to play a similar role. So, as you can see right there, talking about Jay Will and Hartstein in that scenario, how they’re both great playmaking bigs. Thomas Sorber is no different. That’s why I’ve been saying he is the Isaiah hardenstein replacement on a much cheaper deal where he’s only making I think four million a year if I’m not mistaken. Maybe even less. I have no clue what his rookie contract looks like. I’d have to look it up real quick. But it’s an extremely cheap deal and he can do almost the same exact level of what Isaiah Hartstein is doing playmaking wise. But I’m telling you, he’s going to have this season to develop under him. Kind of watch how he plays the game. If he just takes his year to learn under Hardenstein then come in and replace him. He doesn’t even have to be a starter. Just kind of replicate what Isaiah Hartenstein did and I think he easily can. The Thunder are going to have success for multiple years. And it kind of shows in these highlights. These are all just assists by Thomas Sorber. Look at that down low. Boom. Easy pass that he can get down low to his teammate. Look at that right there. Falling out of bounds but able to still keep it in. That’s some great court awareness. Boom. This dude’s going up for the layup. Thomas gets the block. As you can see there, he has good rim protection, then throws it all the way down the court. Little football pass for the easy slam for his teammate. He’s going to work. Short corner, passes it down low, over the head. He waits for the play to develop. Same thing right here at top of the key. Look at that beautiful bounce pass. It’s moves like this that you’re seeing that he’s just he knows where his teammates are at all times on the court. He does. It’s like he has eyes in the back of his head. And like I said, it’s very similar to what we see in Isaiah Hartenstein. He’s a great playmaker, great passer. Look at that crosscourt pass over to the high elbow for the easy jump shot right there for the easy two points. Those are all just passes and assists by Thomas. Ju just assist. As you can see, he has great feel when it comes to playmaking and passing out of the center position. If you can learn under Hardenstein for a year, kind of watch what he does and develop. Keep in mind, he’s only 19 years old. This dude still has braces. He still has braces on. That’s how young he is. If he can develop and learn under Hartinstein and Oklahoma City has a great track record of developing players, he is going to be just fine. And you don’t have to worry about, oh, the Thunder are making a mistake letting Isaiah Hartstein just walk. No, they’re not. Because if they keep him, you have to say goodbye to Alex Caruso, Kase Wallace, and Lou Dort. You’re giving up way too much just to keep Isaiah Hartenstein when you have Thomas Or who can replicate exactly what Hartinstein does right now. All right, he can just let him develop. That’s it. Michael Sams talked about that a little bit when I just showed. He also talked about uh some more stuff in his piece. All right. Silver is also very mobile for a big man. He’s certainly strong and might lack some size, but he makes up for it in his ability to move into open space and get to his spots. He loves his mid-range shot and can size up good looks there as well. It’s nearly a knockdown shot for him at this point, so finding efficiency in that area will help him. He’s not an out of this world defender at the moment, which will knock him in some ways. He has to get used to the pace and physicality of the NBY defense as soon as possible. So, he’s not a liability when he does play. Sorber has good length to be a good shot blocker, too, but needs to improve his instincts. Let’s go ahead look at the final piece of the article. Sorber is absolutely good enough to play right away for the Thunder. There are death issues that hurt his chances, but it is possible for the local a logical location for him. At least to start the season would be the G-League. He isn’t a purely refined player yet and some time with OKC’s developmental team could go a long way for the talented young big man. You’re not going to see and like Michael Sam said here, you’re not going to see the instant impact this coming season. You’re not all right. He’s just death issues right there. But Hartstein being gone after this season, and I’m telling you guys right now, get used to it. Hardenstein is gone after this season. Stop living in a fantasy world. He is gone. Okay? Once he leaves, it’s opens up a spot for Thomas Sorber to either become the starter if he is good enough already or be a solid role player off the bench for the Thunder and they go small again and have Chad start the five and have someone else come up and take a you know small forward spot maybe a Kase Wallace or Aaron Wiggins. So that’s what’s kind of going on right now for Thomas Swarver. He is a fantastic player. I’m going to show you a clip that Derek Parker had up on his channel. He posted Twitter as well. If you haven’t already, go check out Derek Parker stuff. He does a bunch of draft mock draft stuff. This came from his mock draft from a month before the actual NBA draft as well. He covers the Thunder as well online. Go ahead, check out all his stuff. But he also had a stats that was amazing to have. 14 and a half points, eight and a half rebounds, 2.4 assist. All right, he’s 6’10. He also has a 76 wingspan, but he’s one of the youngest guys in the draft. And you can see from his highlights here, look at that rim protection. He’s not afraid to go up and contest shots. His pure athleticism as well. It’s It’s amazing to see. Look at him go to work down low here. All right. Using his big frame to get the easy slam. He knows how to position himself on offense and get easy buckets. He works very well off the pick and roll. He’s a great passer. Look at him here. Elbow shot. Boom. Knocks it down. He’s a great mid-range shooter. For his size, his mid-range game is very good. And we showed this pass earlier and his just assist. It just his overall feel for the game is phenomenal. You love to see this out of a 19-year-old. When he actually starts to get legit playing time and be an impact on this team, he’s got he’s not even be 21 years old yet. He’ll have a full season to develop, play in the G-League as well, learn under guys like Isaiah Hartstein, develop in the OKC developmental system, which is a phenomenal developmental system, one of the best in the NBA. This dude’s going to be just fine. So, anyone worried about this Isaiah Hartstein replacement and that the team needs to keep him, you can stop worrying about it. you can Thomas Sorber is that replacement and he’s going to be just fine in that role with the development that he can go under learning under Hartinstein and the fact that he’s still this young and he could be a contributor right away if he plays his cards right if he really is as good as it sounds he is even though we haven’t seen him play yet it’s going to be scary hours in OKC a dynasty forming because this dude was the second best center in the draft in my opinion a lot of other people as well had him better than common Malawak some people had him as the best center in the draft and he fell to the thunder at 15. They have it set up now where they have center depth which two years ago they had no center depth whatsoever. They only had Chet Homegrren and then Jay Will if you wanted to count him as a center even though I have him as a four because of his size. Thomas Sorber, he’s still growing. Like I said, 19 years old, he can still grow an inch or two. He can still get stronger and more physical. This dude’s going to be special. He is. I say this about a lot of guys, but when you look at his overall feel, his playmaking ability, and just like I said, the basketball feel, he he’s going to be a special player. So, stop worrying about this, you know, trying to keep Isaiah Hartstein because Thomas Sorber is going to step in and replace Isaiah Hartstein next season. That’s all I got for this video. Let me know what you guys are expecting Thomas Sorber to average in his rookie year. Uh, let me know down in the comments section below. See you guys in next

Thomas Sorber may not see much action his rookie season, but he is in the perfect position with the Thunder. With Hartenstein more than likely gone after this season, Sorber is his replacement. Bryson Akins breaks down why Sorber is the perfect replacement to Hartenstein.

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