Fans in most small market teams can tell you that a rebuild is usually code for cutting salary. That had been the case for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the past.
Usually it means several years of watching bad performances, mixing young players with several new coaches and grasping for anything to be competitive.
That’s the way it works in most cases. Then, there is this iteration of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
OKC won no fewer than 44 games every season from 2009 through 2020. It went to the playoffs every season except for 2014-15, when it won 45 games but lost a tiebreaker to New Orleans for the eighth seed.
After the bubble season of 2020, when the Thunder lost to the Houston Rockets in the first round, the rebuild began. Russell Westbrook, who had been with the franchise for 11 seasons, was traded to Houston for Chris Paul. Paul George was traded to the LA Clippers for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari and seven first-round draft picks. Seven!
That’s when the team quickly went to work and the rebuild went into high gear.
Oklahoma City Thunder is quietly one of the best teams in the NBA
With one of those picks, the Thunder took Jalen Williams. With their own pick in 2022, they selected Chet Holmgren second overall.
So while most rebuilds take years, OKC’s took three. With a base of Alexander, Williams and Holmgren, the Thunder — after winning 22 games, 24 games and 40 games in the past three seasons — are in second place in the Western Conference, one game out of first and just knocked off the best team in the NBA, the Boston Celtics, 127-123 on Tuesday.
It is the third win against the best three teams in the league in eight days. OKC beat the Western Conference leading Minnesota Timberwolves 129-106 on Dec. 26 and the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets 119-93 on Dec. 29.
Overall Oklahoma City has won eight of nine. During that stretch, it ended the Los Angeles’ Clippers winning streak at nine.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder’s Big 3 continuing to dominate
In Tuesday’s win against Boston, Alexander had 36 points, 16 in the third quarter, and seven assists. Williams had 16 points and three steals. Holmgren had 14 points and seven assists.
The trio combined to average 68.1 points while shooting 54.5% from the floor in December when the Thunder went 10-3.
Can they keep it up? The January schedule has the Thunder away from home a lot. They’ll be going on a four-, four- and three-game road trip. So far this season, playing on the road hasn’t been a problem, as they have gone 9-4.
OKC ranks in the Top 5 for team offensive rating, defensive rating, assist-to-turnover ratio, effective field goal percentage and are in the Top 10 for pace.
Alexander is an MVP candidate, averaging 31.4 points, 6.4 assists and 5.7 rebounds. He shoots 55% from the field and has scored 40 or more points five times this season.
This upcoming series of road trips might be a big test, but so far it appears this Thunder team isn’t going anywhere.