Building a dominant sports dynasty takes time; it doesn`t happen overnight. For the Oklahoma City Thunder, this ambitious project has unfolded over nearly two decades. Let`s rewind to 2007. Clay Bennett had recently acquired the Seattle SuperSonics franchise and appointed Sam Presti as the new general manager. Presti wasted no time, making significant initial moves like drafting Kevin Durant and trading Ray Allen to the Boston Celtics. While these steps were correctly seen as setting up a bright future for the team, the most pivotal action of that summer wasn`t immediately obvious.
The most impactful decision Presti made involved a free agent who departed and hasn`t played in the league in over ten years. Rashard Lewis was a Sonics All-Star, but with the team entering a rebuilding phase, he was set to command one of the league`s most expensive contracts. The team knew he was leaving, but they benefited greatly when he signed a massive six-year, $118 million deal with the Orlando Magic. Under the rules at the time, only a player`s original team could offer a six-year contract. This necessitated a sign-and-trade agreement, which provided the Sonics with a $9 million trade exception they could use to absorb another player`s salary.
Later that same month, Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver decided his 61-win team was becoming too costly. True to form, he sought to reduce payroll. He sent the Sonics two first-round draft picks in exchange for using that $9 million trade exception to take on the contract owed to Kurt Thomas. One of those picks, Phoenix`s 2008 selection, would become the bedrock upon which the modern Oklahoma City Thunder was built.
In 2008, the Thunder made a draft pick that proved arguably the most significant in franchise history. It wasn`t Russell Westbrook at No. 4, but rather Serge Ibaka at No. 24, acquired with one of the picks from Phoenix. Ibaka became a defensive anchor during the Westbrook-Durant era. However, his single most crucial contribution came on draft night in 2016 when he was traded for Victor Oladipo and the draft rights to the No. 11 pick, Domantas Sabonis. Just one year later, Oladipo and Sabonis were traded again, this time to acquire Paul George.
You can likely see where this is heading. Two years after that, the LA Clippers traded Paul George to Oklahoma City in exchange for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, an impressive haul of five first-round picks, and two first-round pick swaps. An All-Star who left the franchise as a free agent back in 2007 eventually became the catalyst that delivered a future MVP candidate to the Thunder, along with a key running mate. One of the first-round picks received from the Clippers was the No. 12 selection in 2022, which the Thunder used to draft Jalen Williams. Currently, only a handful of teams in NBA history have managed to win 68 games in a season, and the Thunder are now positioned to potentially join that elite group, having acquired both of their current All-Stars through a seemingly minor transaction chain initiated years ago.
Clearly, a departed free agent ultimately resulting in two superstar players is remarkable on its own. But losing Lewis didn`t just provide the Thunder with their core talent; it also influenced their entire approach to roster construction. To grasp this, we need to examine other key moves that shaped the current team.
The Thunder`s strength extends beyond their All-Stars. Their potential to build a dynasty lies significantly in their depth and their extensive collection of future draft picks. While the Paul George trade is the most prominent example of asset accumulation, it was the beginning of a strategy that continues today. Later in July 2019, they traded Russell Westbrook for Chris Paul, two more first-round picks, and two pick swaps. The draft assets from this trade haven`t fully materialized yet, but Paul`s single year with the team was valuable, guiding them to the playoffs and serving as an excellent mentor for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Following Paul`s mentorship year, Oklahoma City fully committed to a rebuild, trading Paul to the Phoenix Suns for another first-round pick and several role players. One of these players, Kelly Oubre, was immediately flipped to Golden State for a first- and second-round pick. That second-round pick, No. 55 overall, became key bench player Aaron Wiggins.
Once Paul was traded, the Thunder actively pursued high draft picks, intentionally tanking for two seasons and securing a third lottery pick from their 2023 Play-In campaign. All three selections yielded critical players. Despite having the fourth-worst record in 2021, they dropped to No. 6 in the lottery, missing out on players like Scottie Barnes or Jalen Suggs but selecting Josh Giddey, who they would later trade for Alex Caruso.
The following year, they were again in the same position with the fourth-worst record, but this time they moved up to No. 2, landing Chet Holmgren. As a Play-In team in 2023, they were initially slated lower at No. 12 but wisely traded up to No. 10 with Dallas to select Cason Wallace, giving up only cap space by absorbing Davis Bertans` contract.
And this overview only covers their draft picks. One of their most important contributors, Lu Dort, joined as an undrafted free agent in 2019 on a two-way contract. The Thunder quickly recognized his potential, and by the playoffs, he was starting and tasked with guarding James Harden.
Acquiring talented players is one challenge; retaining them affordably in the modern NBA salary cap era is another. The Thunder`s cost-control strategy centers on signing players to long-term deals as early as possible. Players like Dort, Wiggins, and Isaiah Joe had minimum-salary team options on the final year of their initial contracts. While Presti could have simply exercised these options for a year of cheap labor, he proactively declined them. This decision made them restricted free agents, limiting their options in the market and encouraging them to accept lengthy, team-friendly contracts. Both Dort and Wiggins signed five-year deals (Dort`s includes only small annual increases), and Joe signed for four. Notably, both Wiggins`s and Joe`s salaries will decline over the life of their contracts. With the salary cap projected to rise by 10% annually, these deals increasingly look like significant bargains.
This astute salary cap management created the flexibility for Oklahoma City`s most recent major acquisition. After struggling against Dallas`s size in the second round last postseason, the Thunder identified the need for another big man. They targeted Isaiah Hartenstein, who had a strong season with the Knicks. However, a salary cap rule related to Hartenstein`s previous two-year deal limited the Knicks` ability to offer him more than approximately $16 million in the first year of a new contract. The Thunder, meanwhile, had freed up substantial cap space by trading away some extraneous young players for Gordon Hayward`s expiring contract at the trade deadline.
This financial maneuver allowed the Thunder to offer Hartenstein $30 million for the 2024-25 season, effectively luring him away from New York. The structure of this deal further underscores the Thunder`s long-term planning: it`s guaranteed for only two years, with a team option in the third season. This timing is crucial because the third year is when the rookie contracts for Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams expire and they become eligible for expensive extensions.
This foresight is key to Oklahoma City`s potential sustained success. They have structured their finances to easily shed salary when their core stars become expensive. By accumulating a vast reserve of draft picks through various trades, they can afford to move role players when their contracts become less favorable and cycle in new, cost-controlled rookie talent.
So, how does all of this connect back to Rashard Lewis? Consider the Houston Rockets. They`ve also taken steps similar to the Thunder, trading veterans for picks and drafting/developing players. However, unlike the Thunder`s transformative Paul George trade, Houston`s major asset acquisition—the 2021 James Harden trade—hasn`t yet yielded a superstar player. As the league heads into an offseason anticipating significant player movement, the Rockets are expected to pursue top free agents and trade targets actively. Such moves typically come with high costs, likely requiring Houston to part with some of the young players and draft picks they`ve collected, potentially undermining their ability to maintain cost control in the future.
This difference highlights the critical importance of the Rashard Lewis saga. The Thunder acquired their foundational stars without having to pay superstar prices for them initially. This allowed them to retain their accumulated assets, which in turn provides the draft capital and depth needed to execute their long-term sustainability plan. Lewis`s departure in 2007, seemingly a setback, set off a chain reaction that made all of this possible.
One remarkable aspect of the Thunder`s current position is having a lottery pick who didn`t even play this past season. Remember the Westbrook trade? The Thunder used Houston`s 2024 first-round pick on Nikola Topic, who spent the year recovering from a torn ACL. He is expected to be a significant addition next season. Had the Thunder been forced to trade significant assets to acquire players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Jalen Williams, instead of receiving them as a downstream benefit of the Lewis trade exception years later, they might not have been able to hold onto that valuable pick.
After nearly 20 years of meticulous roster construction, Sam Presti has effectively built a contender designed to navigate the complexities of the salary cap. He has a core of three stars in their twenties positioned to compete for years. He possesses the assets needed to acquire players via trade if necessary and the foresight to secure his supporting cast with affordable, long-term contracts. And remarkably, this entire foundation began with a single free agent choosing to leave Seattle back in 2007.
Jasper Hawthorne