OKC Thunder: 2 players who must step up in SGA’s extended absence

OKC Thunder player No. 2) Darius Bazley

The hype surrounding second-year forward Darius Bazley is real amongst OKC Thunder fans.

When proposing the idea of Sam Presti and co. potentially pursuing the likes of a John Collins or Aaron Gordon at this year’s deadline, many took to the comments section citing that these hypothetical additions could wind up hurting the 20-year-old’s development.

Of course, we get the appeal — with his size & length (6-8 with a 6-11 wingspan) coupled with his specific skill set, the upside for a guy like Bazley could wind up being somewhere in the ballpark of a Jayson Tatum.

However, while he’s still so young and is currently putting up improved stats virtually all across the board in comparison to his rookie campaign, he has yet to show that he can consistently put the pieces together and serve as that second stud for Oklahoma City moving forward.

Perhaps now with Gilgeous-Alexander out, we’ll see an increased role for Bazley and, with this, hopefully his production increases with it.

On the year, the forward is posting averages of 11.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, and just over half a block per game. While these numbers are solid on the surface, they are somewhat less impressive when looking at how inefficient he is with his shooting stroke — converts on just 39 percent of his attempts from the field and 29 percent from deep.

Now, during SGA’s extended hiatus, perhaps we’ll get a better understanding of how well Darius Bazley can fair when serving as a focal point of this team’s system.