From Thunder Raiders to the rotation advantage of the new era!

With the implementation of the new NBA labor and capital agreement, the luxury tax threshold is becoming increasingly concerned by league teams. Under the influence of the new agreement, the modern championship lineup model is gradually being reconstructed, which is particularly evident in the NBA Finals this season. The most obvious point is that the championship-winning mode of the traditional superstar lineup is gradually being replaced by the depth of the lineup rotation. In the second game of the finals, Aaron Wiggins played as a substitute and scored 18 points, helping the Thunder defeat the Pacers, and personally handed over the highest plus-minus +24 in the game.

As a 26-year-old young defender, he is a high-quality shooter, a stable defender, and even takes into account certain organizational skills. He is the most typical wing puzzle in the league today with balanced offense and defense. Even more advantageous is the five-year cost-effective contract he signed with the Thunder. This is still a decreasing contract year by year. The specific contract situation is as follows:

2025-26 season: 9.7 million,

2026-27 season: 8.8 million,

2027-28 season: 7.9 million,

2028-29 season: 7.9 million (team option)

In this era where teams in the league are calculating in order to avoid luxury taxes, the future value of this type of decreasing contract is extremely high. Even without this additional advantage, it is absolutely worth it to win a substitute like Wiggins for 47 million in five years.

Especially considering that the annual salary of the Thunder core lineup will become more and more expensive in the future, it is unlikely that they will trade such cost-effective players in the future. Then let's assume that Wiggins remains in the Thunder when the contract expires in 2028 and has not suffered any additional injuries, the Thunder will inevitably choose the execution team option. Considering the increase in salary cap, being able to own Wiggins at such a price is definitely a cost-effective contract. In addition to the

contract, let's take a look at Wiggins' data this season, averaging 12 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game in the regular season. This is a very high-quality substitute data. But his upper limit is definitely not just that. If he can join other teams with slightly weak combat power, Wiggins may not necessarily enter the starting lineup 100%, but he will definitely be a fixed rotation choice for the core team.

But in the Thunder, Wiggins' appearance rotation is basically ranked seventh and eighth. So far, Wiggins has only played 13 minutes in the playoffs, and only one of the four finals has played more than 10 minutes. From the player's perspective, this is definitely a huge waste of resources. But for the current Thunder, this is their rotation advantage, and even the high-end resources deep in the bench.

Considering that the Thunder need to face the renewal of Jewish and Chett, the team must balance the other two contracts with maximum salary or near maximum salary. In contrast, Wiggins' contract is even more important. This also explains why the Thunder still retains a large number of draft pick assets in their hands. In the modern NBA system, the way to create an advantage in lineup rotation depth is to find as many cost-effective contract players as possible, so that the high expenses of top-paying players can be offset in salary.

The era of relying solely on the Big Three + a group of basic-paying players can compete for the championship is over. Teams such as Suns, 76ers, Lakers, Nuggets and others have proved the failure of this model.

As the opponent in the finals, the Pacers are just as committed to the deep development of lineup rotation, just like the Thunder. They have a real ten-player rotation lineup, even longer than the Thunder's rotation line. In addition to the starting lineup, there are McConnell who controls the connection period, Shepard, the big man who gradually develops the outside line, and the dunk king Obie Toppin, who scored five three-pointers in the first game, and the young player Matherine who saved the team many times in the playoffs.

This is a round of rotation depth finals, which is also the reason why the Pacers can defeat the Knicks and the Thunder can beat the Nuggets to pass the level. In comparison, the rotation of the two teams is very simple. The Pacers have more players than the Thunder, but the quality of the Thunder's rotational players is obviously better.

After discussing Wiggins, we need to mention the other two substitutes of the Thunder: Harten and Caruso. Both players should actually be high-quality starters, but they can only play substitute firepower in the Thunder, a team that has been rotated and full. The Thunder are able to enter the finals this season and signing them last summer is definitely the most critical move.

Caruso scored four three-pointers in the second game of the finals and scored 20 points, making it the biggest sharp knife on the outside line since the Thunder's playoffs. As for Harten, according to statistics, he is one of the only two players who have played at least 400 minutes and have an offensive rebounding rate of more than 10% of the team's turnovers; outside of them, Isaiah Joe is a high-quality shooter, but he has difficulty getting a stable chance. Kenway and Jerin also have the value of entering the rotation, but their playing time is completely a fraction.

For a league like the NBA with a very fast-changing change, the outside world will pay enough attention to the champion teams of each season, and then think about how to replicate their success model during the offseason. But compared to the Thunder, if you want to reach their level, this link is very challenging the trading vision of scouts and team management.

Not every team can trade to directly change the key core of the team like Alexander, Halliburton, or win second- and third-tier leaders like Jewish and Chet in the draft. Even in the trading part, looking back at the beginning, Caruso and Siakam were not a minority in trading next teams, but in the end, the Pacers and the Thunder became the next teams, and each got players who were enough to change the team.

No surprise, everyone knows that the depth of team rotation is important, but it is another matter to truly achieve it.. Their players need to perform at a core level, and the team also needs to successfully sign several cost-effective contracts, and then arrange players with starting strength such as Aaron Wiggins and Caruso to willingly accept the substitute role.

For Thunder and Pacers, all these favorable factors are just right together. And this is the key to their ability to enter the finals.