Oklahoma City made some changes this offseason, but it shouldn’t change much for one of its most important playoff performers.

Over the past couple of years, the Thunder’s roster has remained mostly unchanged, as the team almost entirely ran it back with its championship lineup from 2025. However, financial issues caused Oklahoma City to send out Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe this offseason, leaving some holes to fill next season.

While Dort was still a mainstay in the starting lineup, Wiggins and Joe had largely fallen out of the postseason rotation, making the Thunder’s offseason moves most impactful on their regular season. With the schedule now out, the Thunder know what their path back to the postseason looks like and got a clear reminder of the challenge of an 82-game slate.

Without Dort, Wiggins and Joe, the Thunder will need some players to step up throughout the regular season. However, those duties shouldn’t fall on Alex Caruso, considering how critical his play is to the Thunder’s success in the postseason.

Caruso has been a dominant role player for Oklahoma City in the playoffs since his arrival, but his regular season numbers and impact have been pedestrian. Although things will certainly look different on the wing next year, Oklahoma City shouldn’t be looking to change anything about Caruso’s regular season play. 

Averaging 18.2 minutes per game across 56 contests last season, Caruso hasn’t been a significant piece of the rotation in the regular season. He still makes a clear impact in his minutes, but his load has been nowhere near what he takes on in May and June. 

To ensure that continues next season, the Thunder will need some others to take on bigger roles. Despite losing some big contributors over the summer, the Thunder still have some clear paths to keeping Caruso’s minutes low.

The most obvious path would be some third-year leaps from Ajay Mitchell and Jared McCain, effectively forcing Mark Daigneault to play them more. Outside of that, it could be as simple as Bennett Stirtz or Nikola Topic becoming a real piece of the rotation.

Add in hopes of a healthier season for Jalen Williams and a potentially larger role for Kenrich Williams, and there shouldn’t be many issues keeping Caruso in perfect condition for the playoffs. The Thunder need him ready to be a disruptor when the lights get brightest, and Caruso’s regular season should be another smooth ride in 2026-27.