Less than two years ago, they were being called “the black eye of the league”.
And all for what? Being bad for two seasons?
“I would say we’re a rebuilding team,” Thunder general manager Sam Presti said in his end-of-season exit interview in 2022.
“Other people like to name things because they have opinions. It’s performance art. Not everyone should be a publisher. I think there’s a difference between being opinionated and being informed.”
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That one word, that dirty, little word — tanking — never sat well with Presti. Never accurately represented what was actually happening in Oklahoma City, not that many people actually cared anyway.
But things have quickly changed. That same franchise that was once the “black eye of the league” is now one of its star attractions, returning to national TV and the spotlight in a big way.
The Thunder aren’t just back in the playoffs either, they are the No.1 seed in the Western Conference, making NBA history as the youngest team ever to achieve that feat.
With more publicity, more people have become more informed on what makes this Thunder team a genuine Western Conference contender — along with why Presti had been preaching patience all those years ago.
It was never about losing for the sake of it, or being bad for those two seasons. It was about purposely and methodically masterminding a rebuild that never departed from the bigger picture.
That even extended to the start of this season when Presti, fresh off OKC’s surprise play-in tournament appearance and now met with growing expectations, was asked if the Thunder would consider an all-in move for a star piece.
Williamson HURT in Play-In Tournament | 00:46
“We are open-minded, literally. But there’s a couple reasons why I think that particular topic is maybe not relevant right now,” Presti opened, recalling an analogy he had used the year prior.
“One, I used the example with the paint last year. You can’t buy the paint for your house that you haven’t actually bought. You don’t know where the house is. You don’t know where it’s situated. You don’t know what style it is. You don’t know how much paint you’ll need.
“So we don’t really know what we have right now.”
In other words, before making any significant moves, the Thunder first needed to know what they were working with, and how could they make that assessment if Chet Holmgren, their second overall pick, had not played a single game with the team yet?
Which brought Presti to his next point.
“So to even say, it’s a very broad term ‘star’. Where? Who’s to say we don’t have a player that could be really good in that spot already?” he added.
“We don’t know the answer to that, right? I don’t know. So we may not, I mean, the chances are, it’s really hard to find those players.
“We have one of them. If there happens to be one or two or more on the roster… we’ve really got fortunate.”
Fortunate, yes. But that suggests it is all luck and when it comes to what the Thunder have now built, the fact they have ended up with a roster with versatile playmakers at every position is much more than good fortune.
The same goes for uncovering two more of those ‘stars’ they could have gone after last summer.
The Thunder rebuild its roster the right away and has now punched their ticket to the playoffs for the first time in four years. Now, the next challenge begins.
Here, foxsports.com.au breaks down how Oklahoma City got back to his position so quickly, how success will be defined in the postseason and where Josh Giddey fits into the picture after a turbulent third season in the NBA.
MVP, MOST IMPROVED AND ROOKIE OF THE YEAR CANDIDATES ALL ON THE SAME TEAM?
Of course, any discussion of the Thunder’s success this season starts with MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has established himself as one of the NBA’s rapidly rising superstars.
Gilgeous-Alexander was sidelined late in the season by a quad injury and while Nikola Jokic is likely to take home MVP honours once again, there is little doubting just how valuable the All-Star guard is to OKC given how the team looked without him on the court.
The Thunder still remained competitive for the most part, but being without their shifty superstar definitely hurt, especially in the clutch, while Jalen Williams’ absence only took away another one of Oklahoma City’s primary ballhandlers.
The thing that makes Gilgeous-Alexander so good is the multiple ways he can beat you, although it all starts with his driving and elite finishing ability at the rim.
The Canadian averages a league-high 23.6 drives per game while converting on 57.6 per cent of his 10.7 field goals attempted from drives.
Stopping Gilgeous-Alexander from getting into the paint is only made harder though by the amount of outside shooting threats the Thunder have, which plays into the drive-and-kick game and ball movement OKC has built its offence around.
The Thunder quite comfortably average the most drives (62.3) per game in the league, with the Indiana Pacers (56.6) the closest to Mark Daigneault’s team.
But Oklahoma City also has the best 3-point shooting percentage (38.9) and averages the ninth-most made despite only attempting the 16th-most, which speaks to the fact the Thunder are smart with the 3-point shots they take.
That is only further proven by the fact the Thunder attempt and make the second-most wide-open 3-pointers, which is defined as the closest defender being over six feet away.
Then there is Holmgren, with his combination of rim protection and shooting skill, who has been a perfect fit in this Thunder team and specifically alongside Gilgeous-Alexander.
“No question about it. He changed the dynamic of everything,” Lakers superstar LeBron James said on his ‘Mind The Game’ podcast with J.J. Redick.
“… OKC now, at the same time that the big is trying to load on Shai, there’s a guard that’s flaring Chet to the opposite slot. Do you know how hard that is? They’re flaring a 7-footer to the opposite slot.”
Redick, who said on the podcast that Holmgren “unlocks everything”, also touched on how the rookie big man’s floor spacing ability has opened up Oklahoma City’s offence.
“Having him at the five and his ability to space and make plays out of closeouts is huge,” Redick said of Holmgren, who is shooting 37.2 per cent from deep this season.
Along with Holmgren’s accelerated development, there is the emergence of Jalen Williams as one of if not the NBA’s most underrated star.
Williams’ rise as a playmaker is the primary reason why Giddey has needed to adjust so much in his third year, with the Santa Clara product quickly proving himself a reliable second option behind Gilgeous-Alexander.
The numbers don’t always tell the story but in Williams’ case they do, with the 22-year-old averaging a career-high 19.2 points and 4.6 assists — up from 14.1 and 3.3 in the 2022-23 season.
And that is despite only averaging a touch over a minute more playing time.
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Williams is shooting at 43.1 per cent from downtown, capable of beating you in different ways as is the case with Gilgeous-Alexander, while also possessing the kind of size and athleticism to guard multiple positions.
In Williams, the Thunder have a genuine emerging superstar to ease the pressure on Gilgeous-Alexander, having carried the offensive load this season at the start of the second and fourth quarters.
For example, before his injury, Williams had 17 games with 10 points or more in the fourth quarters of games this season and 6 in the second quarter compared to three in the first and third quarters combined.
Williams’ ascent to NBA stardom gained more steam in a 113-112 win over the Knicks, where he had 10 points, five assists, three rebounds, two steals and a block in the fourth quarter alone to inspire the Thunder to victory.
Williams had 33 points in that game and for former NBA player Tim Legler it was proof of what he already knows and what some people in the league are finally starting to realise.
“Not enough people either have seen him enough [or] buy into it enough that he could do this for a series or two or three in the postseason,” Legler said on the ‘ALL NBA Podcast’.
“I think that is what holds people back from buying completely into the Thunder. And if you watched the game yesterday, you couldn’t come away from that any other way than thinking Jalen Williams is ready to have a significant playoff run.”
Add in Cason Wallace’s emergence in his rookie season, Lu Dort’s legitimate two-way impact and Isaiah Joe starting to find his shooting rhythm again and this Thunder team as a whole looks primed to go deep into the postseason.
Just how deep, however, may come down to whether Giddey can continue his strong run of form to end the regular season.
A resurgence that didn’t always look like it was going to happen given the turbulent season Giddey has had — both on and off the court — in his third year in the league.
HOW GIDDEY BECAME A ‘COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PLAYER’… AND WHAT DOES IT MEANS FOR HIS FUTURE?
It started in the offseason when Giddey was at the centre of an investigation by both the NBA and the Newport Beach Police Department into allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a minor.
While cleared by the police, the NBA’s investigation continued as did the boos every time Giddey played in road games — every time Giddey touched the ball.
And as if there was not already enough attention on Giddey, midway through the year rival teams started to make a noticeable change, one that only further thrust the Australian into the spotlight.
It had Giddey “dreading” coming to games at some points, knowing teams would more than likely put their center on him and sag off, daring the 21-year-old to shoot. Shoot he did.
But every time the shots didn’t fall, every time the ball clanked off the rim or missed it entirely and clips spread all over social media, Giddey’s confidence continued to drop.
“Probably the first 50 or so games, I used to overthink everything,” Giddey said earlier this month.
“A lot of the time when I touched the ball, I would think too much about what I’m doing. And it’s hard to play that way. It’s hard to play freely and comfortably when that’s what’s happening.”
Giddey had addressed the deliberate way teams were guarding him before, constantly telling the media it was an adjustment for him and just further proof that development is not always linear for players in the league.
All of which is true. But after the 128-103 win over the Suns, where Giddey had a team-high 23 points, he ditched the platitudes and opened up on just how mentally draining this season had been.
“I used to hate it,” Giddey said.
“I used to dread coming into a game knowing a big was going to guard me. I used to think, ‘It’s another one of these nights where they’re gonna dare me to shoot it.’ I used to judge my game so much on if I made or missed 3s.”
But now Giddey has “changed his mindset”, increasing his aggression by better using his 6-foot-8 frame to hunt mismatches on smaller players while finding other ways to be involved off the ball, be it as a cutter or a screener.
“Now I’ve kind of changed my mindset going into games where it’s like, if teams are going to leave me open, I’m going to punish them and I’m going to make them pay and make them change their defensive scheme,” Giddey added.
The numbers back it up too, with Giddey shooting at 62.7 per cent from the field in March off drives, averaging 6.3 per game as he became much more assertive in his play.
JOSH GIDDEY IN MARCH vs REST OF SEASON
Points: 16.3 vs 11.6
Rebounds: 7.0 vs 6.3
Assists: 5.5 vs 4.8
FG%: 57.2 vs 44.4
3P%: 41.4 vs 31.2
“He was a guy that earlier in the year when we talked about the Thunder we were questioning, ‘Is this sort of like a weak link for them right now?’, the way he was playing offensively,” Legler said of Giddey on the ‘ALL NBA Podcast’.
“He’s been so much better than that that it absolutely elevates the Thunder in my mind and their ability because I’ve always liked Josh Giddey’s game… but at some point you’ve got to put the ball in the basket… he struggled with his confidence so much at times and just in general wasn’t really making an impact.
“They stuck with him, to their credit… and he’s been a completely different player.”
While Giddey’s improved 3-point percentage in March isn’t sustainable, all that matters is that he maintains the same confidence — both shooting and driving towards the rim and through contact.
“Like everyone on this roster, he’s a terrific driver,” Redick said of Giddey during ESPN’s broadcast of Oklahoma City’s 135-100 loss to Boston.
“That’s the base of his game. He has size, he has touch around the basket, incredible vision. He has to be aggressive for this Oklahoma City team to reach its peak.”
Giddey’s rebounding in particular still makes him a valuable asset for OKC heading into the playoffs given it remains one of the team’s biggest weaknesses.
You only have to look at the 113-112 win over the Knicks earlier this month, where Giddey himself had 13 rebounds compared to a combined 12 from the Thunder starters.
Looking forward though, this postseason could have wider ramifications for Oklahoma City and Giddey, who this summer will be eligible for a contract extension.
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Lakers book in series with Nuggets | 02:20
Complicating matters, of course, is the fact Holmgren and Williams will also be due extensions in the near-future while Gilgeous-Alexander is a likely supermax candidate.
As NBA insider Brian Windhorst pointed out on ESPN before the Boston game, if Giddey continues to play well he could “be a prime piece of trade bait” if there is no extension with OKC.
In response, Kendrick Perkins added that Giddey is “going to be the key” for the Thunder’s success in the playoffs.
“He’s auditioning,” Perkins said on ESPN.
“He kind of got lost in the shuffle. Before the season we were talking about Chet, SGA and Josh Giddey. Now, all of a sudden, Jalen Williams kicked him out of that position. This is the perfect time for him to step up and elevate his game.”
Whether there is a trade market out there for Giddey remains to be seen and will largely depend on how he performs in the playoffs.
After all, as well as Giddey was playing in the final few months of the season, there are still legitimate question marks over his off-ball fit.
A team like San Antonio could do with a point guard of Giddey’s calibre to run its offence and feed Victor Wembanyama, although in general surrounding him with shooting would be key.
It is too early at this point to have any clear idea on whether the Thunder are entertaining moving Giddey anyway, especially given how he had performed in Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams’ absence.
Unless they are able to get the right return, it may make more sense to keep Giddey given he has already proven he can operate as the primary playmaker in this Thunder team should either of the two go down.
Plus, Giddey was already starting to show signs of significant improvement playing off the ball before the pair were sidelined while the playmaking at his size makes him an ideal fit for Oklahoma City’s offensive identity.
Ultimately, money may talk in the end. What is certain though is that the better Giddey plays, the better off OKC is regardless of whether he remains on the team or not.
That is also the case for the Thunder as a whole entering the team’s first playoffs berth in four years.
The average age of their young core (Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams, Holmgren, Giddey, Dort and Wallace) is 22 while those six players have just 19 games of playoff experience between them.
But, provided the Thunder can keep the majority of that core together, that only means better days ahead for OKC even if there is no championship or deep postseason run this year.
According to ESPN, the Thunder are also projected to have between $30 and $35 million in cap space this offseason, 12 players under contract and a total of 12 first-round picks over the next seven years, starting in 2025.
In other words, it should be a long time before anyone is calling the Thunder “the black eye of the league” again.
