The Oklahoma City Thunder’s summer of roster turnover has taken away two familiar faces, and Thomas Sorber made it clear he felt the hit.
Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins are gone after a pair of cost-cutting moves that sent Joe to the Detroit Pistons and Wiggins to the Atlanta Hawks. In return, Oklahoma City picked up four future second-round picks. Both players were more than just useful rotation pieces during the Thunder’s climb to an NBA championship - they were two of the franchise’s best development success stories.
Joe arrived as a waiver-wire pickup and spent four seasons in Oklahoma City, eventually becoming one of the league’s better bench shooters from beyond the arc. Wiggins spent five seasons with the Thunder and grew from a late second-round pick into a double-digit scorer off the bench. Together, they became steady examples of how the organization rewards players who keep working and stay ready.
That mattered to Sorber, even though his own Thunder story has mostly played out from the sideline. Oklahoma City selected him with the No. 15 pick in the 2025 NBA draft, and he was seen as a possible long-term frontcourt piece before a Sept. 2025 torn ACL knocked him out for the entire 2025-26 season. The 20-year-old spent the year rehabbing quietly in the background, and after a second follow-up procedure, he also missed this year’s Summer League.
Sorber never actually shared the floor with Joe or Wiggins, but he still built a bond with them as teammates. On a recent social media livestream, he talked about their departures and didn’t hide how much they meant to him.
"I miss Wiggs and Zai. Those were my guys," Sorber said.
"Isaiah Joe was my locker room mate, so hurt a little more. Wiggs was my dog, though.
He kept it real."
For Sorber, the connection went beyond basketball. Joe and Wiggins helped keep him around the group during a year when it would have been easy to drift away while he was sidelined. They made sure he stayed part of the room, even if he couldn’t suit up.
Now the Thunder are hoping Sorber can turn the page on his redshirt season. Drafted where he was, he comes with real expectations, and Oklahoma City will need fresh contributors to step into the complementary roles Joe and Wiggins filled for so long if it wants to keep its title window open.
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