Three OKC Thunder things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving

Josh Giddey #3 of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Chet Holmgren #7 of the Oklahoma City Thunder (Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images)
Josh Giddey #3 of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Chet Holmgren #7 of the Oklahoma City Thunder (Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images)
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OKC Thunder
Aleksej Pokusevski #17 of the Oklahoma City Thunder (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)

The OKC Thunder are thankful Aleksej Pokusevski has turned into a real NBA player during the 2022-23 NBA season

Aleksej Pokusevski entered the season as one of the most polarizing players on the Oklahoma City Thunder roster. Entering his third season of basketball fans broke off into two divided camps. Either you were all in and still believed in Pokusevski versus the OKC Thunder fans that believe the experiment should be over.

Mark Daigneault entered training camp with renewed excitement about Pokusevski, saying the phrase “If aliens came and dropped Aleksej Pokusevski down” to describe how different the still just 20-year-old forward looked than his first two NBA seasons.

This year, while battling some injury, Poku is averaging nine points, five rebounds, and an assist per game while shooting 49 percent from the floor, 41 percent from the three-point line including 47 percent on corner triples.

The forward is also shooting 73 percent at the rim, which is by far a career-high much like the rest of his stat line.