Wednesday night, the OKC Thunder saw their 15-game win streak come to an unfortunate end, as the top-seeded Cavaliers burst their victory bubble out in Cleveland by a final score of 129-122.
Though the contest was undeniably exhilarating and hard-fought until the bitter end, from their lackluster fourth-quarter shooting performance (41.2 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from distance) to their overall foul troubles many weaknesses for this Oklahoma City squad were revealed.
While for months now the biggest sore spot within their arsenal appeared to be inconsistent perimeter scoring, perhaps equally as concerning is their limited supply of trusty big man options and this proved to be the case against Cleveland.
OKC Thunder could use for extra help in the big man department
This lack of frontcourt help presented itself in two major ways during Wednesday's exhibition.
The first area of note is that the Cavaliers attacked this very real rotational disparity by heavily pursuing scoring opportunities at the rim or within the painted area. Of their 129 points scored, 60 came in the paint on a highly efficient conversion rate of 65.2 percent.
Frequently during the contest players would take full advantage of Oklahoma City's limited big man options by attacking the lane once given an opening. One specific highlight of this act came in the second period when Donovan Mitchell breezed by Lu Dort at the half-court and bee-lined it straight to the rack for an emphatic, momentum-swinging jam.
Donovan Mitchell with the ‼️ before halftime!#LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/UFq97w1gRt
— FanDuel Sports Network Cleveland (@FanDuelSN_CLE) January 9, 2025
However, perhaps the most obvious sign that the Thunder were overpowered as a result of their lacking bigs came in the form of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley's monstrous performances. The duo combined for a whopping 46 points, 21 rebounds (nine offensive), and 2 blocks while shooting a collective percentage of 70.8 percent from the floor.
Their insufferable strength and activity forced lone true big Isaiah Hartenstein into foul trouble (recorded five fouls), which severely impacted his ability to play physically during crunch time.
As a result, this forced guys like Jalen Williams and, more notably, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to try and make up for this by getting more aggressive in the rebounding and low-post defense department but, unfortunately, they, too, were found teetering on fouling out during the crucial final quarter.
Now, granted, it's easy to look at this and point to the fact that the addition of Chet Holmgren would have likely helped immensely.
The only problem is, there's no telling when he'll be returning from his long-standing hip injury, nor is it a guarantee that he'll stave off re-injury later on down the line.
This is why it may be in the best interest of the Thunder to consider pursuing extra help in the big man department during this year's trade season rather than just solely looking to bring on more three-point snipers.
Fortunately, in the event that they pursue a deal for top-target Nets forward Cameron Johnson to help address the latter issue there's also a player residing in Brooklyn they may be able to add to an inbound package that could subsequently help with the former.
If their big man depth wasn't viewed as a real weakness already, their bout against the Cavaliers certainly should have made them realize this very real problem. Hopefully over the next few weeks they'll find a way to address it before it's too late.