While the look to avoid dropping a second straight game to the in Sunday’s Game 2 Finals matchup, teams around the league are eyeing Oklahoma City’s roster construction with interest, writes Jake Fischer for The Stein Line (Substack link).

That’s not just because of the success general manager has had building a small-market powerhouse, but also because the team currently has the maximum 15 players under contract for next season while holding three top-45 picks in the 2025 draft, two of which are first-rounders (Nos. 15 and 24).

Fischer writes that the team has a unique level of flexibility that could allow it to make any number of roster moves. That could include declining rookie guard ‘s team option and bringing him back on a two-way contract, which would require some level of trust from Mitchell. It could also mean packaging picks to move up into the lottery, and Fischer reports that some teams in that range of the draft are expecting that possibility to present itself. The Thunder could also trade out of the draft, rather than up, to continue accumulating future draft assets and delay making a decision.

The Thunder are already set to add last year’s lottery pick to the rotation after he missed the entirety of the 2024/25 season, so in addition to roster spots, there’s also a question of how many minutes will be available for first-year players next year.

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