{"id":843481,"date":"2026-08-03T01:37:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T01:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/843481\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T01:37:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T01:37:23","slug":"okc-thunder-rookie-thomas-sorber-is-getting-overlooked-in-rotation-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/843481\/","title":{"rendered":"OKC Thunder Rookie Thomas Sorber Is Getting Overlooked in Rotation Talks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6z\">The Oklahoma City Thunder have a deep <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/thunder\/onsi\/does-thomas-sorber-have-path-to-all-rookie-team-next-season\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">rookie<\/a> class. The organization selected three rookies, two in the top 20 selections, and signed another as an undrafted two-way pickup. Four is already a deep class, but 2025 first-round big man Thomas Sorber is in the mix as well, set to make his long-awaited debut after missing his first year with an ACL tear in his right knee. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"72\">Due to still not having an appearance in any capacity in a Thunder uniform, outside of media day, the former Georgetown standout has been overlooked in discussions about what the team&#8217;s rotation could look like in 2026-27. Sorber brings a skill set Oklahoma City could use with the new-look roster, having the potential to be a rock in a deep frontcourt. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"75\">Sorber averaged 14.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.0 blocks per game in 24 appearances with Georgetown in his freshman season before declaring for the NBA Draft. The primary power forward or center is an elite rim protector with defensive positional versatility and switchability when fully healthy. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"78\">The Thunder offloaded a few key parts of their depth this offseason. Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe all played large parts in their guard and wing rotation throughout the franchise&#8217;s recent dominance, especially in the regular season, but the moves won&#8217;t particularly affect frontcourt players. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7b\">The Thunder bolstered its frontcourt even more during the draft with the selection of Michigan big man Aday Mara at No. 12, while still maintaining starting center Isaiah Hartenstein with a contract extension. Essentially, OKC will be bringing in two first-round centers to replace fringe rotational big Branden Carlson, who joined Portland this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/thunder\/onsi\/should-okc-thunder-consider-bringing-back-branden-carlson\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">offseason<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7e\">Sorber will add an athletic roller in the high pick-and-roll game the team has desperately needed to add to its offense. He also has potential to eventually add long-range spacing to his arsenal as well, being a solid free-throw shooter at 72.4% in college with a willingness to shoot from the 3-point line, despite only knocking down six on 37 attempts. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7h\">He&#8217;s also a strong passer in the high-post, fitting perfectly with the rest of the center brigade. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7k\">In a positional group that has constantly battled injuries the past three seasons, Sorber will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/thunder\/onsi\/the-okc-thunder-must-find-minutes-for-thomas-sorber-next-season\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">eventually<\/a> get his chance to play extended minutes, even if he&#8217;s not high up in the rotation by the season&#8217;s beginning. With his recovery schedule on track for him to be ready for the beginning of training camp, the rookie will finally get his chance to prove why he was so highly touted arriving to the league. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Oklahoma City Thunder have a deep rookie class. The organization selected three rookies, two in the top&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-843481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}