Judgement Day looms on this OKC Thunder season, Giddey joins elite company

The Oklahoma City Thunder have had an up-and-down season, littered with massive winning streaks and lingering losing streaks, and the question becomes for OKC Thunder fans, how does this season level off?

The Thunder are three games back of the fourth worst record in the NBA, where they have been the last two seasons while also being just two and a half games out of the final NBA Play-in Tournament slot. Which direction will the rest of this season take?

Thunderous Intentions notebook: Judgement day looms for the OKC Thunder, Josh Giddey joins an elite club, and Jalen Williams has a sneaky elite skill

Most teams begin to make an evaluation of their organization on Christmas Day, a massive landmark in the NBA season. for the Oklahoma City Thunder, they do not have that luxury even a week after the Holiday.

The OKC Thunder can still make a play-in push while also still being able to pivot to increase the odds of them winning the NBA Draft Lottery in a draft that is viewed as historic by NBA talent evaluators.

While the roster took a blow losing Chet Holmgren for the season before the year, then seeing Jeremiah Robinson-Earl sidelined extended amount of time with a bad ankle injury, and now Aleksej Pokusevski out for at least six to eight weeks with a leg injury there are still ways to cheaply patch up this roster to not have this season be entirely lost.

So when can we make an opinion, form a truly hard and fast take, and pick a side? I believe Judgment day looms on January 16th for the OKC Thunder.

Over that period, the Oklahoma City Thunder have a home/road back-to-back against the Boston Celtics and surging Orlando Magic, they return home to take on the Washington Wizards and Dallas Mavericks, before heading out to Miami for their first Nationally Televised game in two years, and a northeast road trip that features the 76ers, Bulls, and Nets.

What is the record after that eight-game stretch? five wins? four wins? Three wins? Between the Thunder outcomes over the next eight games and the rest of the NBA landscape, I think when we wake up on Monday, January 16th we will all be able to conclude as to if it is time to feverishly refresh Tankathon or time to prepare for playoff basketball to return to Bricktown.

Over the last week, Josh Giddey joined some elite company. The Sophomore guard became the second youngest player (20 years and 78 days) to reach 1,000 career points, 500 rebounds, and 500 assists behind only LeBron James (19 years and 326 days).

OKC Thunder rookie Jalen Williams has impressed the entire Thunder fanbase this season, and he is sneaky elite in one area. According to Synergy Williams ranks in the 95th percentile in offensive putbacks. I asked the first-year player from Santa Clara how he has the knack for putbacks and he said “A little bit of luck goes into that, you crash so much during the game you only get a small percentage of those back, and just playing with the guys you know how guys might miss…trying to stick my nose into things.”

Upcoming this week: Tuesday vs Celtics, Wednesday @ Magic, Friday vs Wizards, Sunday vs Mavericks

Record prediction: 2-2

Song of the Week: Everybody hurts, R.E.M