Ten years in the past, the Oklahoma City Thunder needed Russell Westbrook to do just about everything. James Harden was long gone, and Kevin Durant had left for Golden State, leaving Russ as both their star quarterback and workhorse working back. He turned an MVP. But an offense constructed around one participant doing it all turned predictable and exhausting.
Russ got more help when Paul George arrived in 2017, but three consecutive first-round exits ultimately despatched Oklahoma City into a rebuild.
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Now, the Thunder have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a two-time MVP and NBA champion with a deeper roster around him. He performs a completely different fashion than Russ, but he has also carried an monumental offensive load. Given the classes Oklahoma City realized from the Westbrook expertise, and the chance that Shai’s monumental workload finally started to catch up with him deep in the playoffs last season, I marvel whether SGA’s next evolution will contain something Russ never absolutely embraced with the Thunder: Doing less.
Maybe Gilgeous-Alexander’s evolution has already begun.
(Ethan Palowitz/Yahoo Sports Illustration)
This summer season, while taking part in for Team Canada in World Cup qualifying, Gilgeous-Alexander requested head coach Gordie Herbert to let him play more off the ball. That gave Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Andrew Nembhard more alternatives to provoke while Shai discovered other methods to attack. Both Alexander-Walker and Nembhard ended up working more pick-and-rolls than Shai.
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After Canada’s win over Puerto Rico, Herbert said Shai was “tougher to guard off the ball” because defenses had a more durable time trapping him. That evaluation is debatable, contemplating Shai has become one of the world’s most unstoppable scorers with the ball. But the thought to shift off the ball came from SGA himself.
In two video games for Canada, Gilgeous-Alexander tried 4 nook 3s and two 3s off screens. In 83 common season and playoff video games for Oklahoma City last season, he took only 13 nook 3s and six off-screen 3s. Two video games are a tiny pattern, but the change in his shot diet was placing.
Maybe this was just a wrinkle for Canada, but OKC should think about taking a comparable method after accidents restricted Jalen Williams to just 33 video games last season. Shai had to carry the burden on his own, and his effectivity pale as the playoffs progressed with JDub sidelined for the majority of it. Shai’s true capturing fell from 68% against the Suns to 58% against the Lakers to 55% against the Spurs. Better defenses, completely different matchups, and capturing variance are elements. But given how much OKC requested Shai to deal with across a number of seasons and playoff runs, his heavy workload is undeniably a distinguished issue.
JDub stays OKC’s most important secondary creator. Beyond him, Jared McCain, Ajay Mitchell, Cason Wallace and Nikola Topić give the Thunder several younger guards who could benefit from more duty.
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Oklahoma City spent the summer season making selections to add even more gamers who can create with the ball in their fingers. The Thunder traded three established rotation items in Lu Dort, Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins, largely turning them into future draft capital while creating financial respiratory room. To exchange them, they drafted 7-foot-3 middle Aday Mara at No. 12 and guard Bennett Stirtz at No. 16, two more younger gamers with professional offensive ability. Stirtz posted historic utilization as a pick-and-roll savant, and Mara was one of the best passing bigs in all of school basketball.
Mara suits in with OKC’s other bigs. Isaiah Hartenstein can facilitate through handoffs and passes from the elbows. Chet Holmgren can attack closeouts, convey the ball up the flooring and make performs on the transfer. Last yr’s lottery choose, middle Thomas Sorber, gives even more passing potential at middle.
It might sound ridiculous to counsel, after a Finals MVP and back-to-back regular-season MVPs, that Shai should give up touches to his teammates. But there’s a massive distinction between being succesful of carrying an offense and needing to carry one. Thunder common supervisor Sam Presti has constructed a crew that is overflowing with gamers who can deal with the ball enough to warrant touches, but do not need it so much that they can’t match around Shai. So giving up the ball more does not essentially imply capturing less. It could imply simpler photographs for Shai and more alternatives for his youthful teammates to develop.
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault has beforehand spoken about the advantages of utilizing the common season to experiment. During OKC’s championship season, Hartenstein and Holmgren both missed in depth time. Once they were healthy, Daigneault continued taking part in them collectively even against opponents that could problem the two-big look because he wished the crew to study what labored and what did not.
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“We’re in the early stages of understanding that,” Daigneault advised reporters in February 2025. “We need to work on it. We need to understand it.”
The Thunder ended up utilizing the Holmgren-Hartenstein pairing for just over one-fifth of their whole playoff minutes. Whenever Daigneault needed to, including in the Finals against the Indiana Pacers, he could still pivot to a one-big lineup. The same thought applies here: Shai can still take over whenever a possession stalls.
That’s why the common season should again serve as a laboratory. Oklahoma City already knows Shai can carry an elite offense. This crew is going to manufacture wins no matter who runs the crew. But building for the playoffs is key. And after last yr’s disappointment, the next step is to develop more gamers who can create for SGA and study which mixtures make it hardest for a protection to take him away.
The Westbrook Thunder needed their MVP to do everything. These Thunder should not. And if Shai absolutely embraces that distinction, doing less might be what permits Oklahoma City to win even more.
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