NBA Offseason Grades: 76ers, Thunder soar; Lakers, Heat get failing marks

Oklahoma City Thunder

Grade: B+

The Oklahoma City Thunder ended up making a couple of the bigger splashes of the NBA offseason. It starts with the trade of sending Josh Giddey to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Alex Caruso. The Caruso addition should prove to be valuable considering he'd be an ideal fit in the backcourt next to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Whether he comes off the bench or emerges as a starter, the move for Caruso seems like one that could pay big dividends this season. Their second big splash was signing Isaiah Hartenstein away from the New York Knicks in free agency.

I'm not a big fan of the team signing him to a three-year, $90 million deal but that's not my money. And if the Thunder feel they could afford that type of contract, the addition of Hartenstein from a basketball perspective does make sense.

Hartenstein will give the Thunder some added muscle in the frontcourt and offer some much-needed versatility around how they want to use Chet Holmgren this season. I'm not sure if this is a deal that will work out in the long run but you have to credit the Thunder for willing to take a risk in an attempt to improve the roster.