The Oklahoma City Thunder has been one of the best grooming talent teams in the NBA. Ever since they were the Seattle Supersonics, this franchise had a great eye to identify good players that blossomed into stars but always leave the team after being unable to win with it.
It happened before, it happened in the 2010s and nobody knows if that trend will continue in the 2020s. The Thunder have had a lot of great players on the roster in the last 15 years or so and absolutely each of them has left the team for a variety of reasons. Now they’re entering a rebuilding process that doesn’t look like a rebuilding at all. They’re still competing in the Western Conference even though they have a team full of young and inexperienced players.
Well, the thing is that they’re having a great season so far, winning 5 games and losing 4, enough to be the 8th ranked in the West. That is already impressive but this team led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a very promising young player, are having a better season than every team led by their former Big 3 of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
These players shared the court for OKC for three years, even reaching the Finals the last season they spent in Oklahoma City. Time has passed and everybody wonders how many rings they would have gotten in OKC if they stayed together. They have played for more teams but now their current franchises aren’t having the same success as the Thunder.
With 5-4, SGA is leading the Thunder the 8th position of the West, while Harden and his Houston Rockets are 14th (3-5) in the conference after a tumultuous start to the season. In the East, Kevin Durant and his Nets rank 11th with 5 wins 6 losses. As for Westbrook and his Washington Wizards, they are 3-8 this season, ranking 13th in a very competitive Eastern Conference.
This is a very curious fact that shows how interesting things can be in the NBA this season with all the changes and the external factors playing a big role in the development of the season. The Thunder are doing a great job with their recruiting, they have a lot of draft picks for the next 6 years and that can only mean success for them.
Durant and his Nets are expected to compete in the East this season but not many people can say the same about Westbrook and his Wizards. As for Harden, nobody knows what will happen with him or the Rockets this campaign.
Credit for idea: u/Lightingfast31
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq_RPcxq5N8
