The Oklahoma City Thunder are headed into the new season with a reshaped roster, and that means some of the lineup decisions could look different than what fans have grown used to.
With three rookies coming in from the NBA draft and Thomas Sorber set to get his first look with the team after last year’s draft pick, OKC has plenty of new pieces to sort through. That kind of turnover always forces a team to rethink rotations, and the Thunder have a few obvious options already on the table.
The starting group should still feature last season’s familiar faces, with Cason Wallace likely joining them. There’s also the small-ball look with Jaylin Williams at center, a setup that should continue to pop up.
But the most interesting wrinkle may be a bigger one.
The Thunder now have two new young bigs in Thomas Sorber and Aday Mara, and that opens the door to a lineup built around size. A front line featuring Mara alongside Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein would be a daunting sight for opposing offenses.
The real question is whether Mara and Sorber can share the floor together.
Both players figure to get their own minutes as part of the big-man rotation, but pairing them brings up a few issues. Oklahoma City has built its identity around spacing and bigs who can stretch the floor, and neither of these two fits that profile.
Mara made only three 3-pointers in his entire college career. Sorber wasn’t much of a threat from deep either, shooting 16.2% from three.
If the Thunder put them out there together, it would shift the style a bit from what they’ve leaned into before. That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, just a different look.
It could also create a more traditional inside game, with both players fighting on the glass and handling some playmaking from the block to free up shooters on the perimeter.
Mara has a reputation for finding the open man, and Sorber’s athleticism could give opposing bigs real problems.
For now, it’s all about how Oklahoma City chooses to deploy them. If the Thunder decide to pair them, they may be introducing a new version of their offense along the way.
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