Are the Thunder in TROUBLE?
The Oklahoma City Thunder started the season dominating the NBA going 24-1 and have now gone 14-10 over their last 24 games. Between a tougher schedule, multiple serious injuries to Jalen Williams, Ajay Mitchell, Isaiah Hartenstein, and others, and three point shooting variance, OKC has been struggling more despite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander running away with the MVP award and Chet Holmgren making an All Star case. With the trade deadline coming up, are the Thunder in trouble or can they get back to their dominant basketball?
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0:00 – Intro
0:39 – Repeating is really hard
2:25 – The injuries are really tough
4:41 – Three point shooting
7:18 – Is a trade necessary?
9:57 – Opponent shooting and defense
11:47 – The Thunder were dominating recently
12:51 – What’s next?
14:22 – The rest of the NBA
18:30 – Outro
37 Comments
Injuries have nothing to do. The biggest factor is officiating. Funny how the OKC crash coincided exactly with referees finally being instructed to start actually applying the rules of basketball towards OKC
Blow it up
There’s real concern about the future of the nba regarding the longevity of top tier teams. The 4 teams that made the CC all have been down at least one and even two of their top 3 players.
Indiana(slough of injuries spearheaded by Haliburton)
OKC(outside Shai, half the rotation has been in and out of the lineup)
New York(Jalen and KAT have been injured multiple times)
Denver(Jokic and Aaron Gordon on top of other parts have been out) I don’t think the length of the season is the problem as it may be the training they endure or the style of play being too intense. Players overextend themselves when their bodies simply can’t take it and it leads to injury. Giannis watching him last game before his injury, he was out doing too much like Kobe in the year he tore his acl and the team ain’t even competing, so imagine all the other players in the league going that hard. It all started with the stupid award rule where you’re forced to play a minimum of 81 games to win a chip and a reward(65, and 16). I get people want to see their favorite player, but what’s the point if that one extra game leads to them missing multiple games or even seasons for every other crowd?
I wouldn’t even have addressed such a dumb question. They are winning 75% of their games like don’t even waste your time
suns are injured and killed the pistons last night 😁
Do yall watch the full video or just hate OKC?
I think it’s because the league has figured them out a bit and other teams have gotten better while the Thunder have shown no improvement from opening night
Steph, lebron and KD are more healthy at their than players at least 10 years younger than them. I don’t think players now take care of their bodies the way they used to.
All the thunder need is a legit 2nd option. Jdub was supposed to be that guy, Ajay needs more time to develop. Chet is not him, not yet at least. Inconsistent role players is a recipe for disaster
Luka mvp
They need a playmaker besides Shai. Ajay Mitchell is crucial to this team with no Jdub.
All of those 5 year contracts really kicked the organization in the balls
NBA is in a Catch-22 with the injuries. You could bring back defense and remove "freedom of movement" to slow the pace down again, but then the public will see how inflated these stats have been for a lot of players.
Now would be perfect to get topic the experience
Delayed championship hangover
Injuries, Jesus Christ Cone 😅. Typical OKC fanboy. EVERY team is dealing with injuries. Get real.
As a Thunder fan, Im glad we at least beat the "superteam" allegations which never made any sense at all. The team is and always has been closer in style & structure to the 04 Pistons than any superteam. They just happen to also be led by an all time great that raises their ceiling significantly but still far from infallible.
Nuggets have been missing 3-4 Starters for more than 16 games. I don't like excuses too much, My Lakers have been injury filled all season. The Thunder have too much going for them too give them much excuses. Make trades and stop holding on to your draft picks, improve your team.
It's not injuries. The biggest change is how they're being officiated especially on the defensive end. The OKC games use to be almost unwatchable because of how the refs treated them. I think there was an intentional effort made to change how they were officated and it seems fair now. I don't think Shai was ever quite the free throw merchant that everyone claimed he was but he was absolutely getting outrageous calls that he isn't anymore, he's still getting to the line but its cause he's actually getting fouled. But more importantly they used to just foul the fuck out of the other team on defense ESPECIALLY Lou Dort's who really seems more like a football player that they put on an NBA court for some reason. But they're keeping them more honest on defense now and lou dort is still getting away with some shit. Also they were so dominate throughout the start was their schedule. They were mostly playing teams in the play in or below throughout their first 25.
They were blowing out teams by 20 because they were playing awful teams go look at their schedule. So far this season they've only played 13 games against teams that are currently play off seeds and are 6 and 7 in those games not to mention they are dropping games to teams like indiana and charlotte. They are not the apex predators that a lot of people make them out to be.
They're not invincible, the league is starting to figure them out, Spurs are coming after them
Frauds. The refs aren’t bailing them out every game
Trouble or not, SGA is most boring superstar ever and JDub and Chet are the corniest people in American history. Alpren shampoo on the frockets has more aura in his Turkish elbow
The boy is now playing in 4th quarters 😂😂😂💔
no fuckin chance in hell Thunder will get MPJ without trading J Dub or Chet LMFAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAO funniest shit I ever heard
Yea I’ve said it for a while. If you’re worried about your 3pt attempts or make percentage, just play us. I can guarantee by the end of the game you’ll be in prime Steph curry talks
lol from “74 wins” to “one three point shooter isn’t gonna fix the ups and downs of this entire roster”
The nuggets have been missing 4/5 their starters like half the season and are still performing I dont like this injury excuse.
"The panic button hasn't been in the room all season for OKC. Someone finally brought it in the room, it's still over in the corner and someone threw their jacket on it, but a few people have looked over in it's direction now", comment by my brother that was pretty accurate.
when teams beat the injured thunder:😢
when the thunder beat injured teams:😌
Time to trade for giannis
Caleb Martin should be traded asap 😂😂 wth was that
Agree on all the points you addressed. J Dubs injuries this year have been super rough. Even when he was back he seemed off. I wouldn’t worry if I were y’all (okc fans).
They need a legit shooter/ shot creator. Last year they got away with godawful shooting at times and the fact that SGA is he only playmaker on the team, they ca still go back to back but I don’t buy that they are some invincible team, even when they were 24-1
The “problem” with OKC is that they stayed the same personnel wise as last year, but some of them regressed. The volume and accuracy of their three pointers both decreased, and Jalen Williams has been injured for the majority of the season. Based on these very intuitive factors, we should actually see them regress from their record last year sans major trades, and there’s a real possibility they get knocked out by another team even before the finals even as the title favorite.
nice
Delusional