Despite clinching the number one seed in the Western Conference standings for the second consecutive season, boasting the best record in the NBA at 58-12, and being 12 wins ahead of the second-seeded Houston Rockets, the OKC Thunder still find themselves being severely overlooked as serious playoff threats.
Many critiques have been made regarding this Oklahoma City squad. From their over-reliance on superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for offensive production to their lack of success under the bright lights of the postseason, the naysayers have been quite vocal about their lack of confidence in this team.
Former NBA veteran Austin Rivers recently entered himself into the Thunder slander chat on a March 18 edition of The Ringer's Off Guard podcast, where he highlighted the free throw department as being the club's potential downfall.
Austin Rivers' 'rude awakening' Thunder take is severely misguided
During the episode, Rivers said that Oklahoma City will have a "rude awakening" once the playoffs start, as he predicts that the league's officiating team will "allow people to be more physical" when playing defense against SGA and company which, in turn, will impact their presumed favorable foul calls.
"[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's] still going to do his thing, but... OKC just getting away with all these foul calls, it's not going to be like that... You guys have gotten away with this all season long. You guys have been winning games because of it. In the playoffs things are going to get a little physical and these refs are going to be like 'Man, get up! I'm not calling that.' It's going to get weird," Rivers said.
Throughout the past few years, Gilgeous-Alexander and this Thunder club have been perceived as free throw merchants, constantly on the prowl for a whistle when on the offensive end in the hopes of being sent to the charity stripe.
And while it has become a popular narrative, a simple Google search puts the ultimate kibosh on such a disparaging narrative.
Through roughly five months of action in 2024-25, the Thunder have actually proven to be one of the least active teams at the free throw line, as they average the fourth-fewest attempts per game (20.2) despite driving to the basket at the second-highest rate (54.7 drives per game).
To put this into perspective, the most frequent driving team in the Memphis Grizzlies rank in with the most free throw attempts per game with 23.7.
On top of this, when playing the Thunder, opposing teams are shooting a whopping 23.8 free throw attempts per game, which ranks in as the fifth-highest rate in the league.
In total, Oklahoma City has scored 1,159 points from the foul line, which is the seventh-lowest mark in the entire league. This has accounted for a mere 13.8 percent of their 8,405 points scored altogether, ranking as the second-lowest percentage among the top-10 scoring teams this season.
Despite what Rivers may be suggesting, the Thunder have actually been winning this year in spite of their undesirable free throw disparity, not because of it. A quick search easily debunks his misguided claims.