The Oklahoma City Thunder enters the 2023-24 season with winning expectations after a surprising 40-42 campaign last year.
The return of Chet Holmgren increases the hype surrounding the Thunder as he is the solution to most of their defensive problems from last season. He joins Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and Jalen Williams as the players who will likely receive the most minutes.
Buy Thunder TicketsThe Thunder also enter the season with incredible depth as they have several young prospects and useful veterans on their roster.
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault — notorious for tinkering with his roster — could get creative with his lineups and experiment with which players could fit well together.
Let’s look at some potential lineups Daigneault could form for the Thunder throughout the season.
Starters
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Josh Giddey
- SF: Lu Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Chet Holmgren
This is probably one of the easier lineups to predict. Four of these players were already fixtures in the starting lineup last season. The only change is that Holmgren will be the starting center after missing all of last season with a foot injury.
Closers
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Josh Giddey
- SF: Lu Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Chet Holmgren
A lot of teams like to differentiate their starting lineup from their closing lineup, but I expect it to be the same five for the Thunder. It’s a nice blend of scoring, passing and defending for OKC. Of course, this could change on a night-to-night basis depending on the opponent but I expect this lineup to be the closers in most close contests.
Shooting
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Isaiah Joe
- SF: Cason Wallace
- PF: Davis Bertans
- C: Chet Holmgren
The only questionable shooter in this lineup is Gilgeous-Alexander, who essentially eliminated the 3-point shot from his game last season. But if he brings it back at a moderate level this season, then surrounding him with some of the best outside shooters on the roster could provide incredible spacing for the frequent driver.
Defense
- PG: Cason Wallace
- SG: Lu Dort
- SF: Kenrich Williams
- PF: Aleksej Pokusevski
- C: Chet Holmgren
The playmaking might suffer here, but if the main goal is to limit the opponent’s points, then this is the lineup to rely on. Wallace and Dort is a nice 1-2 perimeter defensive punch. This lineup also gets bonus points for assembling a Pokusevski-Holmgren frontcourt — both skinny seven-footers can play defense.
Playing big
- PG: Josh Giddey
- SG: Ousmane Dieng
- SF: Jaylin Williams
- PF: Aleksej Pokusevski
- C: Chet Holmgren
The Thunder have a pretty short roster, so I had to get creative here. While the spacing might be a bit wonky with Dieng as the shooting guard, size isn’t an issue with this lineup as the shortest player is 6-foot-8 Giddey. This lineup also gives Giddey a chance to partner up with Holmgren as a pick-and-roll duo.
Going small
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Cason Wallace
- SF: Lu Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Kenrich Williams
This lineup offers speed and versatility on both ends of the floor. The Thunder will be able to play with speed and skill with these five on the floor together. The tallest players are the 6-foot-6 Williams duo. If OKC wants to get a bit wild, it can probably have JDub play the small-ball five to pick up the pace.
