The Oklahoma City Thunder finished the regular season with an excellent 56-26 record and finished first in the West, and the health of the players has played a big role in their rise this season, as all five of their main players have started at least 71 games.
While they reached the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2016, Thunder fans are already starting to worry as they have suffered two straight defeats after winning Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals, and this Sunday the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Thunder 105-101 on the road, a game that gave the Mavericks a 2-1 lead in the series, and the fourth game will continue on Tuesday at the Thunder's home court.
In such a situation, should the Thunder consider changing lineups, especially to further reduce Josh Giddey's playing time? In the 2023-24 regular season, Giddey averaged 25.1 minutes per game, which is less than his previous two seasons, but the Thunder have more depth than in the past.
And in the first three games of the Western Conference semifinals, the 21-year-old played just 41 minutes in total. While Sunday's third game was arguably the third-year's best game of the series, he still played just 13 minutes. Giddey was substituted during an offensive surge by the Mavericks in the third quarter and hasn't been back on the court since. Giddey's plus/minus in those 13 minutes was much better than his overall plus/minus of -27 in the 28 minutes combined in the previous two games, but it's clear that unless he can make the Mavericks pay for his consistent open shots, Giddey will struggle to gain the trust of the head coach again, and Giddey has made just 1-of-8 three-pointers in the first three games combined.
So who can replace Giddey's starting position? Not only are the Thunder relatively healthy this season, but they are also one of the strongest teams in the league, and because of this, if head coach Mark Dagnor deems it necessary to change the starting lineup, there are still some options to replace Giddey.
When Giddey was out on Dec. 24, rookie Carson Wallace was in the team's starting lineup in his place. As the No. 10 pick in the first round in 2023, Wallace shot 41.9 percent from three-point range in the regular season this year, and while that number has slipped to 33.3 percent in the playoffs, Wallace is also able to provide consistent defensive ability.
The only other game Giddey missed in the regular season was the penultimate game, and it was Gordon Hayward who started in place of him that day, but the 34-year-old veteran is clearly unlikely to be a reliable option for the playoffs, as he hasn't scored too much in this year's playoffs so far.
Another candidate worth considering is Isaiah Joe. After being cut by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2022, the Thunder seized the opportunity to sign him. The 24-year-old shot over 40 percent from three-point range in each of his two seasons with the Thunder and also shot 11-of-24 from three-point range (45.8 percent) in this year's playoffs.
Finally, there's 2021's No. 55 pick, Aaron Wiggins, who averaged 21.7 minutes of playing time in the first three games of the series. He was strong in Game 1, scoring 16 points on 3-of-4 three-point shooting, and while he didn't do too well in Games 2 and 3, scoring just 15 points on 1-of-6 three-pointers combined, Wiggins' defensive prowess made him an interesting option to replace Giddey in the starting lineup. Do you think the Thunder should change their starting lineup? Who should replace Giddey in the starting line-up?