Nuggets and Notes
The Thunder improved to 8-0, marking their best start to a season in franchise history.
Oklahoma City is already wearing the best-Thunder-team-ever crown to complement their best-team-in-the-NBA championship belt, and they continue to rack up accolades and milestones befitting a king.
Stop me if you've heard this before, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was lethal on offense, scoring 30 points on 9-14 shooting and racking up 12 assists.
Isaiah Joe remained white hot, going 6-10 from deep and putting up 22 points. Joe is averaging 18.3 points since returning to the lineup.
It was a familiar three-act arc: the Clippers put up an early fight, the Thunder evened things up, and then OKC ran away with the game.
James Harden led a barrage of three-pointers from LAC in the first quarter, maintaining a 10+ point lead to open the game.
While Shai Gilgeous-Alexander rested, OKC clawed back in the second quarter. SGA returned facing a 4-point deficit with 5 minutes left in the half, and the team steadied while the game remained close through three quarters.
Well, not quite through three quarters. The score was 88-86 OKC with a minute to go in the third, but Shai and Joe bombed two more threes to close the frame. Then the Thunder opened the fourth quarter by extending the run to 17-0, and never looked back.
Aside from Mr. Consistent's typical scoring briliance, Shai has shown playmaking improvement. His assist numbers aren't much different than last season, but my eyes agree with some recent hype on The Dunker Spot podcast: SGA is demonstrating heightened awareness, more aggressively throwing skip passes and being quicker to break and read double teams for passing angles and advantages elsewhere in the half court.
We had three Chet/Hart big-to-big lobs. Reminder: Holmgren only played 32 games last season, and continues to get better.
Even though Kawhi Leonard rested for the Clippers' second night of a back-to-back, we would be remiss not to mention the player most instrumental in leveraging the Clippers to sell out their assets and (allegedly) competitive ethics to benefit OKC. The Thunder got the most important piece of the rebuild–Shai–as soon as it began. Thanks, Kawhi.
And even though most of the hypothetical assets have been cashed in for championship players, I kinda miss the graphics showing how many hundreds of extra first round picks the Thunder were once due from the rebuild. But there are still a handful of juicy pick opportunities, and OKC's rights to an outright Clippers first-round swap (no protections) in 2027 could be monumental. LA has signed a deep, competitive roster of veterans through the 2026-27 season, but only Yanic Niederhauser and Cameron Christie will finish that season under the age of 30. If the league hands down punishing penalties for cap circumvention, and/or the roster's age catches up with them, the Clippers' short-term outlook could crumble quickly.
One Big Takeaway: Measuring Up
The consensus has been that the West got better this season. The Thunder's early season opponents did not, however, get better, as Sunday's hilarious blowout of the hapless Pelicans demonstrated. But the dominance is still remarkable. Jalen Williams has yet to play a minute (and won't for some time, thanks to a setback for his recovering wrist). Chet Holmgren, Alex Caruso, and Isaiah Joe have all missed three or more games. And tonight was no aberration: the Thunder have been outscoring their opponents even more when Shai sits. They boast a league-best +13.6 net rating with Shai on the court, but are somehow +16.2 when he's off.
It's not too early to say that the Thunder have gotten even better. That's the norm for young teams, but most teams this young aren't defending the title. OKC is now getting the chance to prove itself against tougher competition. The Clippers are no slouch, and the west coast road trip continues with a back-to-back against Portland tonight. After that, NBA Cup play and showdowns with the Warriors and Lakers at home are on the horizon.