Thunder Must Balance Championship Aspirations With Looming Contract Questions

Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander summed up his feelings about the 2025-26 season succinctly.

“It was a failure,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I failed at my goal.”

Gilgeous-Alexander won his second consecutive Most Valuable Player award, but the Thunder couldn’t become the first team to repeat as NBA champions since the Golden State Warriors in 2017-18, falling to the San Antonio Spurs in seven games in the Western Conference Finals.

The Thunder don’t figure to undergo a drastic offseason overhaul after posting the league’s best record and pushing the Spurs to the brink even without Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell available for much of the season.

“It impacts your ceiling,” Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said of missing Williams. “Missing Ajay Mitchell impacts your ceiling. But we’ve been able to maintain a really high floor. I’m proud of that. That’s a huge accomplishment for the season, and it will pay dividends moving forward and will pay dividends for us this year.”

Oklahoma City’s entire rotation is under contract for next season, though it holds team options on Isaiah Hartenstein and Luguentz Dort.

Hartenstein was a key piece in the 2025 championship run and proved invaluable against the Spurs, as Chet Holmgren struggled on both ends of the floor.

But at $28.5 million, and with big bumps in store for Holmgren and Williams, general manager Sam Presti may try to work out a deal to keep Hartenstein aboard beyond next season at a more palatable number.

“I love being here,” Hartenstein said. “I love the organization, but it’s a lot in their hands.”

Dort might be harder to keep in the fold.

The former undrafted free agent has been a major piece in developing the Thunder’s defensive identity.

But Dort dipped below 20 minutes per game in the Western Conference Finals, shooting just 20% from beyond the arc.

Plenty of those minutes were gobbled up by Cason Wallace, who made a large jump in his third year, earning second-team NBA All-Defensive Team honors and starting 58 regular-season games.

Wallace mainly started in place of the oft-injured Williams, who played just 33 games and just five of the Thunder’s 15 playoff games.

Oklahoma City has already picked up his team option for next season, but the Thunder figure to work to lock in Wallace in a long-term deal if the guard is in their long-term plans.

Getting Williams healthy is atop Oklahoma City’s agenda, though.

While the emergence of Wallace and Mitchell softened the blow of not having Williams, the 2025 All-Star’s absence was felt.

“He’s such a unicorn out there,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “He’s a 20-point per game scorer, guards one through five, last season he got all-NBA for offense, all-NBA for defense, and was an All-Star. … So losing a guy like that just hurts.”

Then there’s the draft question.

Nikola Topic, the No. 12 overall pick in the 2024 draft, made his debut this season, playing in 19 games between the regular season and playoffs.

Thomas Sorber, the No. 15 overall pick last season, missed the entire season due to injury.

The Thunder have a pair of top-20 picks — the No. 12 overall pick from the Clippers via the Paul George trade, and the No. 17 overall pick from Philadelphia from the Danny Green trade in 2022.

While Oklahoma City and Presti keep things close to the vest, there have been multiple reports that the Thunder have had discussions about moving up in the draft.

The decisions on Dort and Hartenstein, in particular, figure to shape that draft strategy, but with a stockpile of picks coming up in this and the coming years, the Thunder will need to make some moves as they work to not only compete for the title next season but extend their championship window well into the future.