OKC Thunder ascend ladder in week 3 power rankings

With three weeks of action in the books, the national media is back to provide their weekly power rankings. Of course, the big news for the OKC Thunder was their back-to-back wins including another huge comeback victory versus the Lakers.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got tons of shine this week as every pundit cited his rising star. That doesn’t mean OKC made a rise into the contender’s club but virtually every site moved them up (save for one – and that site views the week on a different schedule).

OKC Thunder ascend ladder in week 3 national power rankings

With that in mind, the Thunder ranked as high as 26th and as low as 29th. The majority of the national scribes review the games from Monday to Sunday so for OKC that meant the loss to the Clippers followed by consecutive victories versus the Lakers and Spurs.

Week four will serve up matches versus the Pelicans, Kings, and Nets with former Thunder cornerstone Kevin Durant (and James Harden) making their return to OKC.

Let’s dive into the power rankings for the national writer’s thoughts on week three results for the OKC Thunder.

NBA.com – John Schuhmann:

The master of the states is downright giddy over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and gets a little cheeky stating Mark Daigneault is waiting to unleash the SGA – Kenrich tandem on their playoff opponents.

Schuhmann moves the OKC Thunder up from 30th to 27th in week three. A portion of his excerpt is below but you can read the entire entry and visit his full week three ranking here.

"The audacious, 34-foot, pull-up 3 was the biggest highlight from the Thunder’s win in L.A., the second time in nine days that they came back from more than 18 points to beat the Lakers. But there was a lot of high-level offense from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Thursday, including two straight possessions (one, two) midway through the fourth quarter when he dribbled right past Anthony Davis after using a Derrick Favors ball screen. The Lakers tried double-teaming the 23 year old down the stretch and he calmly got off the ball, allowing a wide-open *Kenrich Williams to drain the go-ahead corner 3.* As was the case last season (+7.0 points per 100 possessions), the Thunder have outscored their opponents (+4.2) with Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams on the floor together. But they’re probably waiting until the playoffs to give such a consistently good combo more minutes."

ESPN Poll:

The panel serves up one of the most bewildering rankings of the week. Case in point — the Lakers week consisted of a lucky two-point win versus the Rockets (one of the clubs with a single win), followed by losses to the Thunder AGAIN after leading by double digits and yet another loss to the Blazers.

Yet inexplicably the Lakers rank 15th on the panel’s list this week ahead of the 16th ranked Cleveland Cavaliers who won four in a row beating the Hornets, Blazers and Raptors all by three points or less then trounced the Knicks at MSG.

More head-scratching follows with the Clippers placed 20th after they also won all four of their matches last week. Baffling — simply baffling.

Perhaps the one team who witnessed some recognition (and deservedly so) was our OKC Thunder who moved from 30th up to 26th. Still, overall the panel’s rankings this week offer ample water cooler debate (or zoom debate if that’s your thing).

The Thunder excerpt is below but you can read the entire list by clicking here.

"Oklahoma City is riding a two-game winning streak for the first time since early March, which not coincidentally was when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was shut down for the season. Gilgeous-Alexander’s brilliant performance in the Thunder’s comeback win over the Lakers on Thursday — a clutch 3 from the logo highlighted his 28-point, six-assist outing — reminded NBA fans that he ranks among the league’s rising stars. Since the start of last season, the Thunder are 19-25 when he plays and 6-31 when he doesn’t. — MacMahon"

Bleacher Report:

A reminder: Bleacher Report writer Andy Bailey is one of the sites that run their power rankings on a different schedule. Instead of Monday to Sunday used as the week in question, Bailey starts his week on Friday and finishes on Thursday so keep that in mind when reviewing his placements as a robust weekend performance won’t show up until the following week (or a losing streak).

Still, the scribe was suitably impressed by the OKC Thunder second comeback versus the Lakers going so far as calling Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the best player on the court that night (over Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook). He moves OKC up one rung from 27th to 26th.

To view his full rankings click here.

"The Oklahoma City Thunder have something none of the others in the bottom five has: a bona fide star.In Thursday’s 19-point comeback win over the Los Angeles Lakers, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went for 28 points on 9-of-17 shooting and was plus-14 in a game the Thunder won by three.And he put a pair of exclamation points on the victory. First, with 1:18 remaining and OKC up three, SGA pulled up for and drilled a logo three on Avery Bradley. Later, with L.A. trying to foul him to stop the clock, he elevated over multiple Lakers and fired a dart to Luguentz Dort under the rim for a dunk.In a game that featured Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook, Gilgeous-Alexander often looked like the best player."

CBS Sports:

Following suit with a different schedule is CBS writer Colin Ward-Henniger who only cites the losses to the Warriors and Clippers. Because of the two losses in his viewed week he drops OKC a spot from 28th to 29th.

That said, next week be prepared for the Thunder to make a big jump because that weekly review will feature the second win versus the Lakers as well as the victory versus the Spurs.

For CWH’s full rankings click here.

"OKC failed to capitalize on the momentum from its comeback win over the Lakers, losing to the Warriors and Clippers this week. The offense has been atrocious, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey the only significant bright spots. The team competes, but until it gets a little more offensive punch, the wins are going to be few and far between."

Sporting News:

New this week, I’m adding in Sporting News writer Gilbert McGregor’s power rankings. He places the OKC Thunder 27th, the same position as he seeded them the previous week. In his excerpt, he opines about Josh Giddey’s playmaking and how much better the team plays when he has a good playmaking game.

McGregor’s full rankings can be viewed here.

"It seems obvious, but the Thunder look extremely dangerous when the rookie is in his passing groove. The 19-year-old’s ability to generate easy looks at the rim for his teammates is impressive for his age/experience, and in their two wins this season — both against the Lakers — Giddey has combined for 18 assists. When he’s firing off passes and controlling the offense, it opens up a ton of opportunity for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to focus on scoring, which he’s doing at an elite level this season."

Hoops Habit:

Writer Josh Cornelissen continues his creative tweak to the typical power rankings. For week three he looks at the season outlook for each club. The “tank” clearly being the point he focuses on for OKC. This week he raises the Thunder up two rungs from 28th to 26th.

Cornelissen focuses on the brilliance of SGA in his excerpt (a portion of which is below) noting the Thunder will only stop tanking once they gain a bonafide second star to pair with the Canadian.

For Cornelissen’s full rankings click here.

"Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is single-handedly carrying the Oklahoma City Thunder up these power rankings. He has been absolutely incredible for the past few games.Not only did he put up a solid performance against the Clippers, but he led the Thunder to a huge upset win over the Lakers. He’ll be the face of that franchise for years to come."

That completes the rankings for week three of action. Let us know who you think was closest to the mark and if your views are different than the National scribes.