OKC Thunder season end round table – Most impressive performance

Another season is in the books albeit with a very different result than OKC Thunder are used to. While tanking isn’t meant to be fun it does provide an opportunity for the franchise to rebuild through the draft via top-notch prospects.

This evening the Eastern Conference will tip off the start of the play-in tournament. Over the next several days eight teams will be narrowed down to the final four playoff teams. Saturday will mark the start of the playoffs as those 16 teams endeavor to win 16 games and raise the Larry O’Brien trophy.

Meanwhile, the Thunder have completed their exit interviews and in the next few days will head out to various areas around the globe. Players will get some well-deserved R and R prior to beginning their offseason work to improve and grow their games.

Several players who appeared on the 2020-21 iteration of the team may have played their last game donning an OKC Thunder jersey. Nonetheless, each and every one of them made an impact on the fanbase and offered up highlights that will resonate long after this season.

With that in mind, it’s time for the Intentions writing team to dive into our annual end-of-season roundtable sessions.

We’ll touch base on the moments that stood out, the impending future and offer our thoughts on what took place this season. We invite you to offer your thoughts in our comments section.

With that, let’s dive into the first question of the series…

OKC Thunder season end roundtable – best individual performance

Question 1: Several career-best performances were accomplished this season. Which one was the most impressive or excited you the most?

Mark Nilon – @MarkNilon_NBA

Luguentz Dort‘s mid-April outing against the Utah Jazz where he went on to drop 42 points on 52 percent shooting from the floor and a whopping 64 percent shooting from downtown. What made this performance that much more special, however, was his resilience on the defensive side of the ball (unsurprising for Lu), as he also racked up an impressive four steals during the outing as well.

Though the OKC Thunder still ended up losing the game by 10, Dort’s performance made it a moral victory in TI’s book

Brandon Dale: @MrOKCtober
February 25th of this year, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dropped 42 points for his career-high against the San Antonio Spurs. SGA proved why he shouldn’t have been an all-star snub as he torched the Spurs with a game for the ages. He also threw in eight rebounds and four assists.

Shontelle Matano: @ShontelleMatano

The most impressive performance for me this season was Lu Dort’s 42 point game against the Utah Jazz on April 13. He also recorded a career-high seven three-pointers in that game.

It was beautiful to see him absolutely thriving and looking back at his journey and all the hard work, and betting on himself that got him there.

Tamberlyn Richardson – @TTOTambz

Dort was also at the top of my list but to share the wealth I’ll offer up another standout performance.

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With the team on a 14-game losing streak and this iteration of the Thunder in jeopardy of breaking the franchise record the win in Boston was arguably the biggest of the year. Made all the more impressive due to the absence of team leaders Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Al Horford

Several players including Dort, Isaiah Roby, Ty Jerome, and Aleksej Pokusevski stepped up but the performance of the day belonged to Darius Bazley.

The forward delivered a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds plus four assists and a block. Bazley hit two 3-pointers, got to the line, and was active on defense. This came in the middle of a 16-game consecutive double-figure scoring effort by the sophomore.

Matthew Hallett – @mervsports78

For me, it is Kenrich Williams. He flat out hustles for everything and deserves all the success in the world.