OKC Thunder already earning respect around the NBA

The Oklahoma City Thunder are building a special core under General Manager Sam Presti. From Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Josh Giddey, and the yet-to-be-seen Chet Holmgren, the OKC Thunder sit with a surprising 38-42 record with just two games to go.

Currently, the OKC Thunder are clinging to the 10th seed in the Western Conference. Therefore, it is easy for the Thunder fanbase to project how good this team will be. However, along the way, it has been great to see NBA legends praise the way the Oklahoma City Thunder are building their team. Steve Kerr is the latest to heap praise on the Bricktown boys.

The OKC Thunder continue to impress with their young core, and NBA legends lob praise onto this organization.

The 82-game marathon is almost over for the Oklahoma City Thunder, with two games left, starting tonight against the Utah Jazz and concluding on Sunday against the Memphis Grizzlies. The Thunder have matched up with every team in the league.

That has given us a lot of chances to ask key NBA figures their thoughts on this OKC Thunder core. I asked Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Spurs bench boss Gregg Popovich about the second-year success of Josh Giddey. They and Doc Rivers discussed how good Giddey could be in this league.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has seen countless people credit him for his All-NBA leap, notably fellow Canadian Steve Nash, who tabbed SGA as potentially the best player from North of the border.

This week, two more names get added to the list. Kevin Durant opined how impressive this Thunder core is following Sunday’s game against the Suns; Steve Kerr did the same on Tuesday after his Warriors downed OKC.

“They’re a really good, young team, and they’re tough to guard because they usually have four guys at about 6-7 who can all dribble, pass and shoot. It’s a really impressive group of young players, and Shai is almost impossible to keep out of the paint,” Kerr said.

The OKC Thunder gave the defending champs all they could handle on Tuesday and yet again earned the respect of an NBA legend.

This season’s win-loss record has done a lot to raise eyebrows about how good OKC can be, but equally as impressive is the amount of respect they have already built around the league.