Oklahoma City Thunder: 5 takeaways from the 2018-19 NBA season

1. Oklahoma City still needs more wing depth

The Oklahoma City Thunder played the majority of their season with very little wing depth. With Andre Roberson never coming back from his injury, Terrance Ferguson was forced to start at shooting guard all season. Midway through the season, Alex Abrines, another key wing piece for the Thunder, left the team due to personal reasons. He appeared in just 31 games.

The absence of these two important players for the Thunder resulted in young players like Abdel Nader, Deonte Burton and Hamidou Diallo playing many more minutes than anticipated. OKC opted not to acquire any wings at the trade deadline or through the buyout market, resulting in one of the least experienced wing rotations in the NBA. Outside of Paul George, the remaining four healthy wing players on the roster had a total of 39 playoff minutes combined in their careers.

In the playoffs, this lack of wing depth showed, especially from beyond the arc. Nader and Burton couldn’t be trusted to play quality minutes and combined for nine total minutes in the entire series. Veteran Raymond Felton found himself on the floor quite a bit due to the lack of wing depth in Oklahoma City.

It is very clear that the wing position is the weak link of this current roster. The Oklahoma City Thunder will look to develop their young wings this offseason, get Roberson healthy, and potentially even acquire another reliable wing through trade or free agency.