OKC Thunder season grades: Aleksej Pokusevski hints of future success

OKC Thunder season highlights for Aleksej Pokusevski

As stated earlier, Pokusevski had a really poor start to his NBA career. His shooting was off, he was committing more turnovers than points scored in some games. The G-League bubble changed all of that, but it took a little while even there for Pokusevski to break out.

Three games back from the bubble, Pokusevski had his first double-double with 23 points, ten rebounds, and four assists. He then had four more games over 20 points including the last game of the season where he scored 29 points, helping the Thunder to a final game victory.

The six-point loss to the Toronto Raptors was one of the highlight games of the year for Pokusevski. He had eight points, seven rebounds, six blocks, and five assists. This is an incredible stat line, which, in a few years, could have easily been a rare quadruple-double.

Pokusevski also showed that he has basketball smarts as he was able to time his jumps to block shots. His smarts also extend to his passing. As the season went on, the Thunder saw Pokusevski develop his cross-court whip passes, his big to big passes in the paint, and just his general ball movement develop.