We’re officially at the halfway point of the season. The Oklahoma City Thunder are atop the Western Conference. The Thunder are sitting comfortably in first place despite missing their second-best player for the majority of the season, and key role players for long stretches of the season.
Injuries aside, OKC has been dominant. They have kept to their identity and played to their strengths, resulting in them making real noise and legit contenders through 40 games.
Here are three observations through the first half of the Thunder’s season:
The Thunder have a multitude of all-defensive caliber defenders in Chet Holmgren, Lu Dort, Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace, Jalen Williams, Isaiah Harteinstein, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Even without Chet Holmgren, their defensive anchor, who’s now missed the last 30 games with a right iliac wing hip fracture, or without Alex Caruso, who has missed 18 games with a hip injury of his own.
Arguably the team’s two most impactful defenders, it’s scary to think about how suffocating this defense could potentially be — when the team becomes fully whole.
OKC has the best defense in the NBA — leading the league in defensive rating (103.7), points allowed (103.6), field goal percentage (42.6%), three-point percentage (31.9%), forced turnovers (18.6), points off turnovers (23.4), steals (11.6), and deflections (22). Not only has the team remained afloat, it’s thrived. Since Holmgren’s injury, OKC has still maintained the best defensive rating at 103.9.
In 24 games since Hartenstein made his Thunder debut, the team owns a 22-2 record thanks to his 99.3 defensive rating. He’s not the rim protector that Holmgren is, but he’s sturdy and provides a different presence in the interior.
Jalen Williams, who is in the midst of becoming one of the most versatile defenders isn’t getting the credit he deserves — for his ability to defend one through five & taking the defensive leap this season. His work as a pseudo center when all of OKC’s front-court players were injured really savaged OKC’s season early on.
Here’s Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault earlier in the season, discussing how valuable and impactful Jalen Williams’s versatility is:
Lu Dort continues to be arguably the best point-of-attack defender in the league and is rightfully receiving more national recognition for his defense. Cason Wallace continues to go under the radar & continues to steal moments and is elevating himself as an all-defensive caliber defender already.
Then you have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, of course, continuing to shine as a two-way star & one of the best off-ball defenders in the league as he is third in the league in steals per game (2.0) behind Dyson Daniels & Tyrese Maxey.
All have helped the Thunder in becoming the most stifling defense, even without two of their best defenders. It’s scary to envision how dominant this defense could potentially become when they are fully whole.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander started off the season a bit slow. He was experimenting with the volume of his three-point shot in the early part of the season. He chucked his fair share of shots, especially early. Some felt like wasted possessions, but all were and will continue to be intentional. This is one of his ways of preparing himself and his teammates for the playoffs.
SGA shot 26.4% from deep through the first 10 games of the season. His next 30 games? He’s shot 37.8% on 5.9 attempts per game.
SGA has stated that he’ll take what the defense gives him and that has clearly been the case as his shot selection & discernment have clearly improved.
SGA adding another element to his game has helped the Thunder remain the No.1 seed in the West and second-best record in the NBA, despite dealing with a multitude of injuries to key players.
In his last 30 games since Holmgren’s injury, SGA has performed at an MVP level — averaging 33.4 points, 5.9 assists, 5.2 rebounds, 2.3 steals, and 1.2 blocks while shooting 53.3 percent from the floor, 37.8 percent from beyond the arc, 89.9 percent from the free throw line, and having a plus-minus of +415 (most during span).
During that span, the Thunder are 26-4.
SGA has been the model of consistency; he has the most 30+ point games this season (24). He also had the most 30+ point games last season (51). SGA is operating at a historic level — in terms of his flow, efficiency, and consistency. Fans should not be taking this level of play for granted.
After finishing as the runner-up for MVP, SGA has once again elevated his game —averaging 31.6 points, 6 assists, 5.4 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game, with 53/35/89 shooting splits.
He has been the main driving force — behind their franchise-record 15-game winning streak. OKC has remained No.1 in the West at 34-6 despite key players missing significant stretches of the season thus far.
SGA’s mixed bag has worked through the first 40 games which has helped him become the current front-runner for MVP.
If there’s an area to be nit-picky about it’s their three-point shooting. 40 games into the season, the Thunder are not a prolific shooting team, as they are only ranked 19th in three-point percentage at 35.4%. A noticeable drop-off from a season ago.
This is a drive-first team as they are second in the league in drives per game at 58.6. The Thunder rely heavily on their drive-and-kick source of offense and when you go through this Thunder roster, they have streaky shooters but lack true snipers (outside of Isaiah Joe).
Here’s the Thunder’s 3PT% — 23-24 vs. 24-25 from the players that are heavily relied on from 3PT:
Cason Wallace: 41% ➡️ 33%
Jalen Williams: 43% ➡️ 34%
Isaiah Joe: 42% ➡️ 37%
Aaron Wiggins: 48% ➡️ 39%
Alex Caruso: 41% ➡️ 28%
Lu Dort: 39% ➡️ 41%
This is certainly something to keep an eye on for the remainder of the regular season. The Thunder will look for their player’s shooting to regress back to the means as they prepare for the playoffs. Their inability to consistently knock down threes played a major part in losing to Dallas in last year’s playoffs.
One thing that’s for certain is the Thunder are on a historic pace. This is a special group that has a legit chance to win the championship, if everything clicks for them!
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