Top 3 Priorities for Oklahoma City Thunder During 2026 NBA Offseason

The era of parity continued on Saturday night, when the San Antonio Spurs won Game 7 and eliminated the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

Despite once again having the best record in the league in the regular season, the Thunder are headed into the offseason without another championship.

And now, they have some decisions to make during the offseason.

Based on what will help them get back to the mountaintop and what makes the most sense long-term, these are the top three summer priorities for OKC.

3. Extend Cason Wallace

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Cason Wallace doesn't turn 23 till next season, but he's already one of the best and most consistent perimeter defenders in the NBA. And he's eligible for an extension this summer.

If the Thunder are going to trade some bigger salaries (more on that later) to open up flexibility down the road, they need to re-up with some of the younger talent like Wallace. And he's more than earned a new, bigger deal.

Wallace made Second Team All-Defense, is a career 37.4 percent three-point shooter and has one of the highest steal rates in the league.

What's more, he doesn't have a problem with being a lower-usage offensive player. He could slide into the starting lineup with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, take nothing away from any of them and be a purely additive three-and-D guard.

2. Get Healthy

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One of the most impressive things about this Thunder season was how well they survived an onslaught of injuries.

SGA missed 14 games, Ajay Mitchell missed 25, Alex Caruso missed 26 and Isaiah Hartenstein and Jalen Williams both missed more than 35. And yet, OKC went an NBA-best 64-18.

But in the playoffs, particularly against a defense as athletic and hungry as San Antonio's, the Thunder simply couldn't overcome the absences of Mitchell and Williams.

Those two combined for a total of 134 minutes in the conference finals, and that was a huge part of SGA shooting 40.9 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from deep.

Without their shot creation, the responsibility on Gilgeous-Alexander's shoulders was massive. The Spurs could sell out on his on-ball opportunities, and there just wasn't enough offense elsewhere to make them pay.

As reductive as it might sound, the Thunder simply need those two to get right this offseason and be healthy for the next playoff run. Without them, OKC can't survive the West.

1. Luguentz Dort (or Isaiah Hartenstein... or Both)

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Luguentz Dort has been with the Thunder for seven years, but Holmgren and Williams both have massive extensions kicking in next season. Those two and SGA's salaries will make up around three quarters of the salary cap.

And with Dort on an $18.2 million expiring contract (assuming OKC picks up the team option), unloading his contract is likely the easiest way to open up a little flexibility.

Isaiah Hartenstein would be in that conversation too. He's also on a team option for 2026-27, and his salary is $28.5 million.

Heck, OKC might even be able to pair those two with some of the mountain of future assets it has and get another star-level creator to play with SGA. That path would require some pretty quick development for younger prospects like Thomas Sorber or Nikola Topić, but the Thunder have certainly done that before.

They could also hope to break up the bigger salaries of Dort and Hartenstein and get multiple role players in return.

Either way, the roster could use a little bit of a shakeup. Dort and Hartenstein, especially when they're on the floor with Holmgren, just don't bring enough offensive juice. That trio had a minus-46.4 net rating against San Antonio.

And there's more than enough defense between Wallace, Williams, Alex Caruso and Chet to make up for the loss of Dort, Hartenstein or both.