—“Gilgeous-Alexander’s cleanest path to eclipsing Jokić for MVP will come in the win column. His statistical case is stout. There’s no way to prove he’s ultimately at Jokić‘s level until the playoffs. But the Thunder are currently tied with the [Nuggets](https://theathletic.com/nba/team/nuggets/) at 45-20 for the conference’s best record.”
—“At minimum, it appears Holmgren will be All-Rookie First Team and Gilgeous-Alexander will be All-NBA First Team. That’ll be the second straight season the franchise has checked both boxes. Gilgeous-Alexander finished All-NBA First Team last season and Williams finished All-Rookie First Team (second in ROY voting). That hasn’t been done in back-to-back seasons by the same franchise since the Showtime Lakers in the early 1980s.
—““We’ve been able to kind of click on a little two-man action,” Williams said. “Every team has to make sacrifices, so it’s not super unique to us. I think it’s just. In what ways? There might be times where you don’t touch the ball necessarily a lot. So I think for Chet, he’s kind of understood that he can make up for it defensively and one of the things I’m learning is how to keep him involved offensively.”
Dort kept it simpler: “Nobody cries about shot selection or anything like that. Like, we just really want to see the team win and succeed. We know who is our All-Star. We know what Chet can do, what Jalen can do, what (Josh) Giddey can do, what I can do.””
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Edit: [THE Athletic} lol
Excerpts:
—“Perhaps nothing displays the combo reality quite as clear as the historical rarity of Holmgren and [Shai Gilgeous-Alexander](https://theathletic.com/nba/player/shai-gilgeous-alexander-Ghni3y9TrL9rBSl5/)’s combo season. Holmgren, pretty clearly, sits in a two-man race for Rookie of the Year with [Victor Wembanyama](https://theathletic.com/nba/player/victor-wembanyama-0lNu4P1JXZca9gqU/). Gilgeous-Alexander, meanwhile, has separated himself as the clearest alternative to Nikola Jokić for MVP. Vegas currently gives Gilgeous-Alexander the second-best odds.”
—“Gilgeous-Alexander’s cleanest path to eclipsing Jokić for MVP will come in the win column. His statistical case is stout. There’s no way to prove he’s ultimately at Jokić‘s level until the playoffs. But the Thunder are currently tied with the [Nuggets](https://theathletic.com/nba/team/nuggets/) at 45-20 for the conference’s best record.”
—“At minimum, it appears Holmgren will be All-Rookie First Team and Gilgeous-Alexander will be All-NBA First Team. That’ll be the second straight season the franchise has checked both boxes. Gilgeous-Alexander finished All-NBA First Team last season and Williams finished All-Rookie First Team (second in ROY voting). That hasn’t been done in back-to-back seasons by the same franchise since the Showtime Lakers in the early 1980s.
Not all promising young cores pan out exactly as expected or produce multiple titles. This Thunder franchise once drafted three straight future MVPs (Kevin Durant, [Russell Westbrook](https://theathletic.com/nba/player/russell-westbrook-6Eb0XPY16UzzJWbc/), [James Harden](https://theathletic.com/nba/player/james-harden-xj359Qh34ugWFbVp/)), experienced tons of success, but never made it over the championship mountain. So there’s reason to live in the more cautionary present.”
—““We’ve been able to kind of click on a little two-man action,” Williams said. “Every team has to make sacrifices, so it’s not super unique to us. I think it’s just. In what ways? There might be times where you don’t touch the ball necessarily a lot. So I think for Chet, he’s kind of understood that he can make up for it defensively and one of the things I’m learning is how to keep him involved offensively.”
Dort kept it simpler: “Nobody cries about shot selection or anything like that. Like, we just really want to see the team win and succeed. We know who is our All-Star. We know what Chet can do, what Jalen can do, what (Josh) Giddey can do, what I can do.””