The Oklahoma City Thunder evened the Western Conference Finals Wednesday evening with a 122-113 win. The series is now tied 1-1
Jared McCain came off the bench to score 12 points, hitting 4-14 overall and 3-9 from behind the three-point line.
Mason Plumlee did not get off the bench for San Antonio.
Victor Wembanya continues his assault on the league, scoring 21 points, pulling down 17 rebounds, passing out 6 assists and blocking 4 shots.
This has quickly become the most interesting rivalry in the NBA, but the future belongs to Wembanyama and OKC will have to find a way to counter him. They can either find someone who can more or less match his abilities, which is a long shot at best, or they can find some modern equivalent of the Jordan Rules, and that might mean substantially altering their roster.
Fortunately, they have a ton of options.
They could, for instance, build a frontcourt specifically to cage Wembanyama, at least offensively. We’re just using hypothetical examples here, but if you threw Steven Adams, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Zion Williamson at him, that’s a frontcourt that would expose his biggest weakness, which is his pipe-cleaner frame. When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar entered the league, his physique was somewhat similar, but by the time he retired, his body was much thicker. But it took him years to muscle up.
Alternatively, they have a ton of draft picks to work with. Over the next five years, the Thunder have up to 11 first-round picks and between 12-15 second-round picks.
Already one of the deepest teams in the NBA, Oklahoma City clearly can’t use that many picks. It’s possible they could put together a deal for, say, Antetokounmpo, who would help a lot. Or they could look for another emerging young big man.
Or to go another route, the Thunder could just ruthlessly pursue great three-point shooters to counter Wemby. With great ball movement, you could just bomb away, and as freakish as Wembanyama can be, he can’t chase the ball around the perimeter. Again, this is hypothetical, but imagine if you hit him with Steph Curry, Kon Knueppel, and Luka Doncic.
Everyone is going to have to figure out how to deal with Wembanyama as the future of the league. OKC probably has the best chance of actually doing it.
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