NBA Season Preview 2019-20: The one reason to watch each and every team

Oklahoma City Thunder: The pre-blowup version of this team

There are two directions you could go with this: the pre-blowup version of the Oklahoma City Thunder, or the day when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander takes the helm after a potential Chris Paul trade puts him in charge. There’s no question SGA is the future, but it’ll probably be more fun to watch him cook before OKC deals away CP3, Danilo Gallinari and maybe even Steven Adams.

Such a dramatic roster teardown would be heartbreaking after already having to ship off Paul George and Russell Westbrook over the summer, so for now, let’s focus on the last glimpses of competitive basketball the Thunder fanbase might get to enjoy for awhile.

The West is stacked, and no one will be picking the Thunder to make the playoffs, but a team with Paul, Gilgeous-Alexander, Adams, Gallo, Dennis Schroder, Terrance Ferguson and Andre Roberson isn’t a pushover by any means.

General manager Sam Presti clearly has his eye fixated on the future, bringing in a haul of draft picks after being cornered into a pair of franchise-altering trades. But given how toxic CP3’s contract is — and how surly he might be as he awaits a trade to a contender — the most fun iteration of this group will be early on, before reality sets in and the losing/trading starts chipping away at team morale.