The Thunder didn’t just trim payroll this offseason. They may have handed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the kind of MVP storyline voters love to latch onto.
Oklahoma City moved Luguentz Dort, Isaiah Joe, and Aaron Wiggins to get out from under the second apron, avoiding the roster-building penalties that come with crossing that line. The cost was real: the Thunder gave up depth to protect their flexibility. But in the process, they also created a fresh angle for SGA’s push toward something the NBA hasn’t seen in 40 years.
No one has won three straight MVPs since Larry Bird did it from 1984-1986. Before Bird, only Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell had pulled it off after the league began handing out the award in 1956. That’s the company Gilgeous-Alexander is chasing, and in an award race that always leans heavily on storylines, the setup matters.
The Thunder are still expected to be one of the league’s best teams, but they’re not being treated like the runaway force they were a year ago. ESPN projected Oklahoma City to win four fewer regular season games than last season and finish second in the Western Conference. That slight dip in outside perception is exactly the kind of thing that can sharpen an MVP case.
Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t want Dort dealt. Oklahoma City lost a longtime starter and a key 3-and-D wing, while Joe and Wiggins were the kind of depth pieces who could still swing a night when their names were called. The Thunder will feel those departures, even if they remain the deepest team in the NBA.
Still, there’s plenty of reinforcements around him. Cason Wallace, Ajay Mitchell, Jared McCain, and Nikola Topic are positioned to take on bigger roles after the roster shakeup. Oklahoma City also made one of the best signings of the offseason and added two future pieces in Aday Mara and Bennett Stirtz.
The bigger picture is simple: if the Thunder stay near the top of the West and Gilgeous-Alexander keeps producing at his usual level, the MVP case gets very loud, very fast. He is the best player on the planet, and if Oklahoma City pushes toward 60 wins while battling the Spurs for first in the conference, the award becomes his to lose.
That path gets even cleaner because some of the usual competition doesn’t look as threatening. The Nuggets have gotten worse this offseason, and the Heat are no lock to finish in the top six in the East.
Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo aren’t winning MVP. That leaves potential first-time winners Victor Wembanyama and Luka Doncic as the main names in the mix.
If Oklahoma City had simply run it back, the story would have been harder to sell. The wins and production would have started to feel routine. But now there’s a built-in wrinkle: the Thunder got a little worse on paper, and SGA still has a chance to drag them to the top while making history.
That’s the kind of narrative media voters remember. They want the stats, sure.
They also want a story. And a player trying to become the first three-time straight MVP since Bird, after his team chose flexibility over depth, is a pretty strong one.
In Other News...
Jalen Williams Is Facing A Brutal New Test In OKC
CBSs latest ranking of the NBAs top duos offered a pretty clear reminder of how the league views Oklahoma Citys second star. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander still carries the kind of respect that keeps the Thunder near the top of these conversations, but Jalen Williams took a hit in the evaluation after a disappointing 2025-26 season that made the pairing look a little less imposing than some of the other contenders.
The bigger issue for Oklahoma City is what comes next for Williams, because the Thunder do not need him to be merely solid. They need him to look like a true co-star beside Gilgeous-Alexander, especially when the league is comparing them to more established or more explosive combinations across the NBA. For a player with his talent and role, that turns every stretch of the season into a test of whether he can close that gap and restore the duos standing. [Read more 🡒]
Thunder Still Own The West Spotlight As Lakers Fight Doubts
The Lakers are trying to sort themselves out in Slovenia, where Luka Doncic is hosting a mini-training camp as the franchise works through a new season with a largely new roster after LeBron James' departure. For Oklahoma City, it is another reminder that the Thunder are no longer chasing the spotlight in the West so much as sitting at the center of it, with the leagues discussion around conference powers still running through the team that finished last season on top of the Lakers in the playoffs.
ESPNs annual preseason survey only sharpened that picture, with the Thunder and Spurs drawing most of the confidence as Western Conference contenders while the Lakers were met with plenty of skepticism. Even after a 53-29 season, Los Angeles is headed into camp with more questions than certainty, and Oklahoma Citys presence in that conversation says plenty about how much the balance of power has shifted heading into the new year. [Read more 🡒]
Nikola Topic Faces A Huge Thunder Season For His Future In OKC
Nikola Topic enters this season with something more important than a standard year-two storyline hanging over him. The young Thunder guard is still trying to establish himself in Oklahoma City after a start to his pro career that never really got going the way it should have, and this is the first real chance for the team to see what kind of long-term piece he can become. For a roster that has been built with an eye on sustaining success, Topics development matters because the Thunder are always weighing not just talent, but fit and future value.
This year gives Topic a clear window to change the conversation around him. Oklahoma City will keep watching how he handles the next step, knowing the decision on his place in the organization is not far off. The front office will eventually have to determine whether he has shown enough to warrant sticking around, and the answer could shape how the Thunder manage one of the more intriguing young guards in the system. [Read more 🡒]