It took just about three weeks of action for the OKC Thunder to endure their first loss of the 2025-26 season. Now, after officially tying the 2015-16 Warriors for the greatest 25-game start in league history (24-1), they find themselves having dropped two of their last three contests.
Despite the sudden shift in on-court success, there's little reason for panic. After all, Oklahoma City's still far and away the best team in the association, with a record of 25-3, and still ranks atop the league in several key statistical categories such as defensive rating (103.2), net rating (15.8), and point differential (+16.1).
That said, these recent losses have shed more light on the most polarizing area of play for this Thunder squad, and, in a way, highlighted the importance of sixth-year wing Isaiah Joe's services.
Thunder need more Isaiah Joe action to address shooting woes
Through their first loss of the year, way back on November 5, the Thunder had been struggling mightily with their shot from beyond the arc, cashing home on a 10-worst rate of 34.0 percent.
Considering they had finished sixth and first in this category over the last two seasons, respectively, such woes were quite shocking to see from fans and pundits alike.
Following this putrid nine-game sample size, however, Oklahoma City has seemingly pulled a 180 in this department, as they've converted at a 39.0 percent clip, the fourth-best mark in the NBA over this span.
Joe's return to the lineup following an early-season, injury-induced hiatus has clearly played a role in this drastic uptick in production, as he's been splashing home on a career-high 43.0 percent of his attempts from distance thus far while hoisting up a new career-high 6.7 attempts per night.
His impact has been so great that veteran Alex Caruso recently went as far as to call him an "anomaly for our team with spacing."
Of course, with this, it should come as no surprise that just as his presence in the rotation has had a positive effect on their three-point shooting efficiency, OKC's production has only proven to plummet when he's been sidelined, as they fall from shooting a collective 39.5 percent to a middling 35.8 percent, the second-worst on/off mark on the team.
This correlation was only further strengthened during these two recent losses, as their NBA Cup semifinal ouster against the Spurs came with Joe shelved with a knee contusion, while their hotly-tempered demise against the Timberwolves saw the wing register just under 13 minutes of play, nearly 10 fewer than his average of 22.7 minutes this year.
In both outings, the Thunder wrapped up with a long-range shooting percentage below 30.0.
Through these first few months of play, all signs seem to suggest that an increase in on-court action for Isaiah Joe has a direct effect on the successes of Oklahoma City's long-range offense.
With the fact that they've now gone 1-2 over their last three games, perhaps it's time to ramp up his minutes on the hardwood.