Projecting Opening Night starting lineup for OKC Thunder in 2025-26 season

USA Today

2 days ago

Don't fix what's not broken. That's the Oklahoma City Thunder's unofficial offseason motto. After winning the NBA championship, they have the rare opportunity to bring back basically the same roster — minus some changes at the bottom of the depth chart.
The Thunder will enter the 2025-26 season at the top of the food chain. The NBA champions will hope to be a rare repeat winner. They spent the offseason locking down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren to long-term deals.
Dealing with constant injuries, the Thunder fluctuated their starting lineup throughout their historic 68-14 regular-season campaign. Throw in Mark Daigneault's tendency to be fluid with his rotation throughout the year, expect OKC to remain flexible with its starters.
As the Thunder continue to enjoy their summer, they're only a few months away from defending their top spot. Let's project what OKC's starting lineup could look like when it receives its ring on Opening Night:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
This is easy. Gilgeous-Alexander is the Thunder's franchise player. He had one of the greatest individual seasons ever. He brought home the MVP, Conference Finals MVP and NBA Finals MVP trophies. He also won the scoring title. The 27-year-old is one of the best players in the league. OKC's title window starts and stops with him.
Lu Dort
One of the longest-tenured Thunder players, Dort is fresh off a career season. He was named to his first All-Defensive Team. He's one of the league's best one-on-one defenders. The undrafted player has also developed into a legitimate outside shooter. He's been a fixture in the starting lineup for years now.
Jalen Williams
Another easy choice. Williams ascended into one of the NBA's best players last season. He had a career year as a first-time All-Star, All-NBA and All-Defense Team member. The 24-year-old is a walking efficient 20-plus points and an underrated defender. His trajectory should continue to rise after he stepped up as OKC's second-best player in the playoffs.
Chet Holmgren
Another easy choice. Injuries have limited Holmgren to playing only about half of his available games in his first three seasons. That said, he's easily the Thunder's best defender when he's on the floor. The 23-year-old has shown promise as a scorer over the years. But what he brings as a rim protector is worthy enough of the contract extension he signed this past summer.
Isaiah Hartenstein
As was said at the top — don't fix what's not broken. The Thunder have four permanent starters with a fifth spot up for grabs. Sometimes it's Hartenstein, other times it's somebody like Cason Wallace. But the Thunder stuck with the double-big lineup throughout the playoffs, sans a few NBA Finals games. It was the starting lineup that won them both of their Game 7s. It should be the same starting lineup to open next season.