OKC Thunder: Darius Bazley playing better without SGA in lineup

The OKC Thunder have been one of the worst teams during this second-half stretch of the 2020-21 season, going 22-6 since returning from the All-Star break.

Clearly more invested in the tank than they were during the team’s first half, the Thunder have now shied away from legitimate play-in tournament contention and, instead, are vying for a bottom-five finish in the entire league.

Interestingly enough, however, despite the losing, there have been quite a few bright spots that have come out of this mediocre stretch. For us at TI, quite possibly the most important takeaway from this second half has revolved around second-year forward, Darius Bazley, and his much-improved play.

During the first 36 games of the season, the 21-year-old was seeing uninspiring per-game averages of 11.9 points and 7.5 rebounds on a lowly 39 percent shooting from the field and 29 percent shooting from deep.

Since the illustrious All-Star Weekend’s passing, Bazley has managed to turn things up a bit with his production, as he’s bumped his scoring averages up by nearly six points (17.8) while shooting at nearly five percentage points better overall from the floor.

Darius Bazley producing at higher rates without SGA in the OKC Thunder lineup

What makes this even more interesting is the fact that, during this current campaign, it would appear that not only has his best stretch of games been in the second half, but it appears that they’ve also come when OKC Thunder star, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, has been sidelined.

During 18 total games played without the guard in the lineup with him this season, Darius Bazley is finding himself posting 16.5 points and 7.1 rebounds on 42 percent shooting from the floor.

While his shooting stroke still must improve considerably before we can bank on the sophomore being a legitimate Robin to SGA’s Batman down the line, should the production that he’s finding now continue once he re-takes to the court with Gilgeous-Alexander — which, admittedly, might not be till next season — Darius Bazley could morph into a reliable building block alongside the guard and whomever they chose to take during the 2021 NBA Draft.