Following a historic 24-1 start to the year, the OKC Thunder have fallen off in a major way over their last 12 games, going a mere 6-6 and enduring their lone two losing streaks of the campaign.
When it comes to this lackluster success rate, many factors have played a role. From their slew of injuries to being forced to play through four separate back-to-backs along the way, it's easy to see why they've struggled.
However, as far as on-court weaknesses are concerned, The Athletic's Fred Katz couldn't help but chastise Oklahoma City for their putrid shooting efforts during a recent appearance on The Zach Lowe Show.
"Number one, the shooting has fallen off to an incredible degree. That's something that maybe we could have seen coming," Katz said.
Thunder shooting production has reverted back to early season form
As Katz would note in his assessment, the Thunder were truly abysmal in the perimeter scoring department during the early stages of the season, as they boasted the second-worst three-point shooting clip through all of October at 29.6 percent.
Then, once guys like Isaiah Joe and, eventually, Jalen Williams made their way back into the rotation after injury-induced delays to their season debuts, OKC found their production from long range soar to sensational heights, as they placed first in the association with a shooting percentage of 41.2 from November 1 all the way through December 10.
They would go 18-1 throughout this stretch.
Sadly, this tremendous efficiency has seemingly vanished over their last 12 outings, as they're shooting at the seventh-worst clip since December 13 (33.0).
It seems quite clear that there's a strong correlation between long-range shooting and the Thunder's win-loss record. This is not something that's specific only to this season.
Last year, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company saw their three-point shooting efficiency drop from an impressive 38.1 percent in wins to a mediocre 34.3 percent in losses. In 2023-24, this drop off was even more stark, going from 41.2 percent in wins to 33.8 in losses.
Heck, a big reason for their upset ouster against the Mavericks during the 2024 postseason was due to their horrid long-range game, as they shot a league-worst 33.5 percent from deep in round two while Dallas cashed in on a second-best 39.7 percent clip.
Needless to say, in order for the Thunder to snap out of this rut, let alone have a chance to repeat as NBA Champions, they're going to need to find a way to up their productivity from beyond the arc.
Otherwise, as history suggests, the losses are only bound to continue piling up.