Oklahoma City Thunder Season Preview: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Looks To Lead A New Era

The Oklahoma City Thunder are a completely different team than they have been in past seasons. With a new era of basketball in Oklahoma City set to begin, the team could look even more different by the end of the season.

What's New

Looking at the 15-man roster the Thunder finished the 2018-19 season with, over half of the current team is brand new. After a third straight first round exit in the playoffs, the expectation was that the front office would make minor tweaks and run it back with a similar roster.

To kick off the summer, to everyone's surprise, the Thunder dealt Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers for a historic return of first round draft picks. Also in this deal, Oklahoma City acquired Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Danilo Gallinari. Shortly after this transaction, the Thunder sent Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul and more first round draft picks. Finally, Jerami Grant was traded to the Denver Nuggets for yet another first round draft pick.

On top of the players added through trade in the offseason, Oklahoma City also drafted Darius Bazley and signed Mike Muscala, Justin Patton, and Luguentz Dort. With all of the new faces on the team, a solid mix of veterans and young players will make this Thunder team extremely interesting to follow throughout the season.

Best Addition: Acquiring the point guard of the future in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was one of the bright spots of the offseason. After an extremely impressive rookie campaign, he appears poised to take over in the absence of Russell Westbrook.

Biggest Loss: It is a hard pill to swallow when you lose the player that has been the face of the team for so many years. Russell Westbrook will be missed both on and off the court in Oklahoma City this season.

What's Coming

The currently constructed roster could look completely different late into the 2019-20 season. For now, Oklahoma City has the pieces to still be a lower-tier playoff team in the Western Conference. Depending on how the season goes early on, the Thunder could decide to unload some of their assets sooner than the 2020 NBA Trade Deadline in February.

Guys like Chris Paul, Danilo Gallinari, Dennis Schroder and even Steven Adams could be enticing for teams to make offers for late in the season in their respective playoff efforts. If all of the chips fall the right way, the Thunder will have an arsenal of young talent and future draft picks to start building around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Team MVP: Now the longest-tenured member of the Thunder, Steven Adams will be the team's MVP. Although he probably won't have the most flashy plays or stats on the team, he will be the most consistent and the glue guy on the roster.

Best Value: On a cheap rookie deal worth roughly $3.96 million next season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the best value player on the roster. With the impact he will have on the team and the hope he will bring to the fanbase, he is worth much more than what he will be paid.

X-Factor: Although probably not part of the Thunder's long-term plans, Chris Paul is the X-Factor for Oklahoma City in the 2019-20 season. His health and performance will dictate how many games the team wins and also will affect his trade value.

Best-Case Scenario

In a perfect world, Oklahoma City stays relevant while also obtaining more assets. They would find themselves in the playoff hunt all season and get major return in trades for guys like Paul and Gallinari at the trade deadline.

Worst-Case Scenario

The Thunder face injury issues all season and are not able to deal Paul or Gallinari, all while struggling and being one of the worst teams in the Western Conference. This scenario would alter Oklahoma City's rebuild process drastically.