OKC Thunder: Abdel Nader season and contract grades

Highlights

As mentioned on the last slide, my biggest Nader highlight for the season was when he broke out of his early-season shooting slump. He went 7-of-9 from the floor, 3-of-4 from deep and 6-of-6 from the line to score 23 points. All of this in just 17 minutes.

However, the best it was that he backed it up the next night with a 19 point performance on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor. He was 4-of-5 from deep but only 1-of-2 from the line. This gave the coaching staff the confidence to put Nader on the court for longer periods of time.

Just five games after this, Nader then went on a streak of three double-digit scoring games. He scored 10 points against the Utah Jazz, 15 points against the Sacramento Kings, and 14 points against the Denver Nuggets.

For me, Nader’s most impressive highlight of the season was when he stepped in as a starter. He simply typified the next man up attitude when Terrance Ferguson was unavailable. The team won three of the five games he started in this stretch.

This was the time when he ripped out those three double-figure scoring nights in a row. What this shows is that Nader is not afraid of the moment and does his best to give the team what they need every time he steps on the court.