2026 OKC Thunder fan survey results: Thomas Sorber expected to help out - OKC Thunder Wire

With the 2026-27 regular season right around the corner, the Oklahoma City Thunder enter the year as a popular title pick. Even after their summer of cost-cutting moves, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams remain one of the most successful and decorated trios in the league.

The Thunder had a league-best 64-18 this past regular season. But fell short of their back-to-back ambitions in the 2026 Western Conference Finals. Injuries played a large part in that. But that's in the past. Can't change anything about it now.

Now that the offseason is behind us and we're looking ahead to another nine-month marathon, let's rewind on OKC's biggest moves and preview what most folks believe the Thunder will do this upcoming year.

To get ready for the upcoming season, Thunder Wire conducted a 16-question fan survey. A total of 1,145 Thunder fans participated. Not every question was answered, though. The response totals for each question can be seen in the top-left corner of the pie charts.

One question was about OKC's quartet of young players at the back end of the bench. Nikola Topic, Thomas Sorber, Aday Mara and Bennett Stirtz have played a combined 10 NBA games. Topic missed his first season with a torn ACL and most of his second with a testicular cancer diagnosis. Sorber missed his first season with a torn ACL. And Mara and Stirtz are first-round rookies.

After moving on from a handful of longtime role players, someone on the Thunder has to step up. According to OKC fans, most expect Sorber. He garnered 45% of the votes. Mara and Stirtz each received at least one-fifth of the pie.

That's a little surprising. Especially with how stacked OKC's frontcourt room is. I think Stirtz has the clearest path to real minutes. But Sorber could soak up minutes in the regular season. That said, you always need inning-eaters in the regular season. As awesome as Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein have been, both have missed notable time over the last two years.

I think Sorber also has a clear path to play real minutes in the 2026-27 regular season. He kinda needs to show something as he enters his second season. If you remember his pre-draft report, most thought he'd be a ready-now contributor before he sustained his season-ending knee injury. Let's see if that holds up.