Where National sites rank OKC Thunder: week 15 power rankings

In week 15 of the NBA power rankings, the OKC Thunder got hit hard by the national pundits. Many teams are dealing with the slog of winter or the dog days of winter as many refer to it.

The East is a topsy turvy universe with several of the clubs who were at the top of the ladder plummeting due to injuries or tough schedules while teams who appeared out of the running have found their mojo.

The West continues to be dominated by a trio of teams and every club is looking ahead 10 days to the trade deadline.

Where National sites seed OKC Thunder in week 15 power rankings

Without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the team was in tough trying to survive without him and subsequently, the losing continued. With only two games on the schedule, unfortunately, they fell to both the Bulls and Pacers extending the streak to seven in a row.

Here’s how the national pundits ranked them.

OKC Thunder power ranking – NBA.com:

It took a while to happen but the OKC Thunder drop to the bottom of John Schuhmann’s power rankings this week.

The stats master spends time this week looking at the Thunder offense or as he puts it their anemic offense. He notes the loss of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and how that will impact the club moving forward, particularly in clutch time.

Part of the Thunder excerpt is below. To view it in its entirety along with the rest of his week 15 rankings click here.

As noted, Schuhmann drops OKC one spot to the bottom of the ladder (30th).

"The Thunder are 1-12 in January, and they just lost Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to an ankle sprain that will have him out until at least the All-Star break (10 more games). They already have the worst offense in the league, so they can’t fall any lower, but the Thunder have scored an anemic 94.7 points per 100 possessions in Gilgeous-Alexander’s 822 minutes off the floor. That number isn’t so bad (103.4) with their other three full-time starters – Josh Giddey, Luguentz Dort and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl – in the game, but those three have been on the floor without SGA for a total of just 87 minutes."

ESPN Panel:

The panel moves the Thunder back up one spot to 27th — the seed they have seemingly favored all season for OKC.

The panel’s week 15 NBA full power ranking can be viewed here.

"Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will be sidelined at least through the All-Star break after spraining his right ankle during Friday’s overtime loss to the Pacers. With the Thunder early in a rebuild — and eyeing the elite frontcourt talent at the top of the next draft class — count on them being extremely patient with their 23-year-old star’s recovery. OKC is 30-48 when Gilgeous-Alexander plays and 6-36 without him over the past two campaigns. — MacMahon"

CBS Sports:

After offering glowing praise for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for the second week running and because his power rankings trail the other sites Colin Ward-Henninger hasn’t reviewed the game where SGA got injured.

Ward-Henninger holds the Thunder steady in 28th this week.

The Thunder excerpt is noted below and CWH’s full week 15 power rankings can be viewed here.

"OKC almost completed a double-digit fourth-quarter comeback against the Bulls on Monday, but ended up losing their third game of the week and sixth in a row overall. That’s certainly not the fault of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who slithered his way to 29.7 points, 7.3 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game this week on 40 percent 3-point shooting. He simply hasn’t gotten any help offensively, which led to the Thunder’s paltry 98.7 points per 100 possessions over the last three games."

Given the losing streak and only two games, it’s no wonder the OKC Thunder took a dip on the majority of the listings ranking at a high of 27th and a low of 30th.

Next week the Thunder host the Blazers at home then hit the road again traveling to Dallas, Portland and Sacramento.