OKC Thunder: Can Thunder duplicate early season success story?

The OKC Thunder enter their third straight season without high expectations. Three years ago, the team had a 0.2 percent chance of making the postseason. They eventually took the Houston Rockets to seven games in the first round of the Western Conference finals thanks to a resurgence from Chris Paul.

Last season, the team was picked dead last and was given an even lower percentage to make the postseason. Under new head coach Mark Daigneault, without Chris Paul, Dennis Schroder, or Danilo Gallinari, the squad was led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, George Hill, and Al Horford.

Can the OKC Thunder duplicate their early-season success?

Safe to say, Oklahoma City was written off from the beginning. Despite poor advanced metrics, the team continued to find ways to win in the early stages of the 2020-21 season. The Thunder were young, scrappy, and hungry and no one wanted to throw away their shot at carving out an NBA career for themselves.

The OKC Thunder simply outworked teams in a fanless environment that saw teams playing every other day. Older proven players could not find the energy to get up to face off with the lowly Thunder and it ended up costing them on the scoreboard.

Despite the team’s net rating, the boys in blue got uncomfortably close to the NBA’s Play-in tournament. Leaving fans throwing their hands up screaming “here we go again!” as the team was trending in the wrong direction in the Tankathon standings.

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However, an injury to point guard and borderline All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, George Hill being sidelined with a thumb injury before being dealt to the 76ers, shutting down Al Horford and Mike Muscala all contributed to the team struggling to find wins late in the season.

The Bricktown boys finished 22-50, last place in their division, the second to worst Western Conference team, and an expected win-loss record of 15-57 which would have represented the worst mark in the NBA.

As the NBA season schedule rolls out, and games will be played in just over a month, it is natural to get that basketball itch around this time. So can the Thunder rattle off some early-season victories?

On top of having the fifth hardest schedule in the league, Oklahoma City will not catch teams off guard this season. In fact, the season starts off with one of the best teams in the Western Conference from a year ago in the Utah Jazz.

Before the turn of the calendar year, the Thunder take on the Utah Jazz twice, the 76ers, the Warriors twice, the reloaded Lakers three times, the Nets, the Clippers twice, the Heat and the Bucks, the Raptors twice, the Hawks, the Suns, the Nuggets, Celtics, Grizzlies twice, and Luka Doncic’s Mavs.

With fans back in the arena, fewer back-to-backs and fewer five games in seven-night stretches, teams will be less likely to overlook the upstart Thunder.

The lone grizzled veterans on the roster are Derrick Favors and Mike Muscala, a far cry from the elder statesmen from a year ago.

Expect this to be another grueling season, record-wise, for the Thunder but with a ton of fun player development storylines sprinkled in.