The Oklahoma City Thunder have made significant changes to their squad heading into the 2024-25 season as the team seeks to come up with a promising championship run. Fans may be thrilled to see that the Thunder now sits at the top of the latest power rankings released at NBA.com, showing how well the team may just be poised for a title push.

OKC went on to finish 57-25 last season with the first seed and the second-best record in the league. So far, the Thunder have made some fantastic additions to their team and have made some tweaks – along with some promising pickups in the NBA Draft. As the offseason continues, it does seem that the Thunder are heading into the next season with impressive preparation so far.

At this point, OKC is ready to take on the challenge in the coming season. The Thunder fell short of a wonder run in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, losing to the Dallas Mavericks in six games. With the team addressing their issues in the offseason, it does seem that they are ready to roll to a bigger campaign.

OKC Making a Splash in the Offseason

Oklahoma City made some impressive additions by adding Alex Caruso (to add wing defense and three-point shooting), Isaiah Hartenstein (to add rebounding and strength in the center position), and Nikola Topic (to address the departure of Josh Giddey with a more efficient shooting). So far, these acquisitions sounded like they are ready to take on the path of a champion at this point.

Caruso is an effective feat, adding presence to the defensive guard duo of Luguentz Dort and Cason Wallace, but it is their effective shooting that makes the former Chicago Bulls guard a good pick. Caruso shot 40.8% from deep and is one of the high-energy defenders in the game, making him a strong addition based on the team’s identity.

Hartenstein, on the other hand, would definitely solve OKC’s rebounding problems, as well as presence in the paint. Only Chet Holmgren holds the fort in that category, and Hartenstein, the former Knicks big man, is quite an impressive addition who will definitely bring a bigger presence in the paint as OKC used to rank in the bottom five in both offensive and rebounding percentage.

Other West Teams Making Noise

Aside from the Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, and the Minnesota Timberwolves, The Phoenix Suns are expected to make a lot of noise in the West after the team finally added a point guard in Tyus Jones, with the hopes of recovering from their first-round sweep at the hands of the Wolves.

The New Orleans Pelicans are also slated to make a shaky move into the competition after they’ve lost the likes of Jonas Valanciunas, Dyson Daniels, Naji Marshall, Larry Nance, only to add Dejounte Murray in the mix instead.

Still, Dallas remains a team to look out for among these other teams, with the addition of Klay Thompson being the front of the core’s upgrade. It is also quite notable that the Los Angeles Clippers – which fielded a big four last season – lost Paul George to Philadelphia, while Russell Westbrook was traded and waived before opting to join the Denver Nuggets along with reigning MVP Nikola Jokic.

At this point, it is safe to say that the Western Conference indeed is in a race for a promising war between contender teams next season, and Oklahoma City is leading the charge.