It would be easy to look around and suggest that a team like the Suns, the Lakers or even the Warriors improved their rosters enough this offseason to where they could feasibly come out of the West this coming year.
But for all the attention we pay to the high-end moves and contending teams, far less is paid to the small-market, up-and-coming clubs, which in many cases rely more on internal development.
Hence why you haven’t heard as much about the Thunder, which, fresh off winning 40 games as the NBA’s second-youngest club, are bringing back the entirety of coach Mark Daigneault’s core. And that includes last year’s No. 2 pick, Chet Holmgren, who failed to log a single minute in his first NBA season after sustaining a Lisfranc injury in his foot this time last year.
