The Oklahoma City Thunder season is just around the corner, and with Media Day and Training camp set to tip-off during the final week of September, NBA 2k has released their latest edition of the game. The OKC Thunder rank ahead of eight NBA teams according to 2k, led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being rated an 87 overall on a scale of 0-99.
With the new NBA 2k game, I decided to jump into the NBA 2k franchise mode and simulate the 2022-23 NBA season to see how things shake out. Here are the parameters: I turned in-season injuries off to get a feel for the league without unforeseen injuries. However, I did remove Chet Holmgren from the Oklahoma City Thunder due to his right foot injury that will cause him to miss the entire season.
The Oklahoma City Thunder season according to 2k is an interesting one, even without Chet Holmgren, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander reaches his star potential
So as we began to simulate, the OKC Thunder survived a tough October with a 3-3 record before ending November with a 6-16 mark after the first two months of the year. December was a tick better for the boys in blue going 6-8 before a disastrous January saw the Thunder turn in a 3-11 record.
Sitting at 15-35 after the first four months of the year, Oklahoma City went 4-7 in the short month of February and had their best month of the year in March finishing just one game below .500 at 8-9. During their four April contests, OKC went 1-3 to finish the 2022-23 regular season with a 28-54 record.
That would be a four-game improvement from the 2021-22 season, good enough for 14th place in the Western Conference only ahead of the 22-win Spurs teams. For comparison sake, the worst record in the Eastern Conference was 29 wins, a mark held by the Magic and surprisingly the Hornets.
The Clippers won the NBA finals over the Boston Celtics and it was time for the 2022 offseason.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, after making his first NBA All-Star appearance, was tabbed as a third-team All-NBA player, Paolo Banchero won the Rookie of the Year award, while Luka Doncic took home MVP.
The star Thunder point guard finished with 26 points, six rebounds, six assists, a steal, and a block per game on 50 percent shooting from the floor, 33 percent from three, and 85 percent from the floor. Josh Giddey and Lu Dort both poured in 14 points per game, while Tre Mann stayed at ten points per tilt. Rookies Jalen Williams and Ousmane Dieng averaged seven and five points respectively.
The OKC Thunder ended the season with a 14 percent chance at the top overall pick in the loaded 2023 NBA Draft, and the worst they could do is fall to the sixth overall pick. Adding a top-six pick to this young core while allowing SGA to have a breakout season would be the dream scenario under these circumstances.
Just for fun, since Chet Holmgren misses hooping, I decided to sim another season with Chet Holmgren in the lineup for the Oklahoma City Thunder and after a sluggish 6-30 start, the team finished 32-50 which was the seventh worst record in the NBA. Holmgren won rookie of the year on 13 points, ten rebounds, three assists, and two blocks per game on 42 percent shooting from the floor and 32 percent from deep.
These seem like fairly realistic expectations given the two different circumstances for the Oklahoma City Thunder, how do you think this season will pan out?