The Oklahoma City Thunder are preparing for a different season. After the setback of losing in the Western Conference Finals to the San Antonio Spurs, management were convinced that tweaking some details of their roster construction was the right path—also aiming to avoid the second apron. Thus, Luguentz Dort, Aaron Wiggins, and Isaiah Joe departed, something that Chet Holmgen feels as if he were losing a member of his family.
«That’s how this sport is. No team, with its 17 players, stays together forever. We knew it would end, but that doesn’t make it hurt less. At the same time, I’m happy for (Dort and Wiggins) and the opportunity they’ll have in Atlanta. I’m happy for any significant achievement they reach there», he notes during a USA Basketball Foundation charity event in Southern California.
As for the fates of the named players, Dort and Wiggins were sent to the Hawks in separate trades, and Joe was traded to the Pistons in a series of moves aimed at cutting costs. True to his style, the general manager Sam Presti managed to recover seven second-round picks while re-signing Isaiah Hartenstein for three years and $75 million.
Returning to Holmgren, he is fully convinced that the front office has done well by restructuring the roster in order to contend for the ring again.
«We learned the same lesson (in 2026) that year we won: it was almost a reminder of how hard it is to achieve it and of all the effort that it entails. There are no guarantees. You can give your all and still fall short. In the end, you have to accept that effort does not guarantee the outcome. We fell short this year. That doesn’t change the process», he says.
