While 2024 may have treated them well, 2025 could be the year where the OKC Thunder finally thrust themselves over the proverbial hump and into ultimate glory as NBA Champions.
Of course, before they can gear up for any semblance of meaningful playoff and, hopefully, Finals action, over these next several months of regular season play the ball club must strive to make their road to a title as easy and smooth as possible.
Doing so will require an uptick in internal effort and the team's brain trust to make a few key alterations for the betterment of the organization moving forward.
With this in mind, and in the spirit of the ball club's first game of 2025, we present a few specific New Year's resolutions the Thunder must look to adhere to going forward.
New Year's resolutions OKC Thunder must now look to accomplish
3. Improve long-range shooting efficiency
Last season, the OKC Thunder cashed in at a league-best 38.9 percent on their three-point attempts though hoisted up a middling 34.2 shots per game (ranked 16).
Through the first few months of 2024-25, the team has essentially swapped their status in each of these categories, as they are shooting at the ninth-highest rate from beyond the arc with 39.0 attempts per game but are only converting at a 24.5 percent clip (ranked 21).
While their drive to shoot more is certainly admirable, the stark drop-off in success rate is a tad concerning when considering the fact that just one team since the 2010-11 season has won an NBA Championship with a long-range shooting percentage below 35.0 percent.
Of course, this came during the highly polarizing, Covid-19 induced Lake Buena Vista NBA postseason back in 2020 where the Los Angeles Lakers wound up winning it all.
In the modern age of basketball, a proper perimeter game on offense is a must in order to claim the Larry O'Brien Trophy. The Thunder must find a way to up their percentages in the New Year.
2. Give Ajay Mitchell the Aaron Wiggins treatment
Though it may be going under the radar, the Thunder find themselves rostering one of the best players from this year's rookie class in Ajay Mitchell.
Despite coming into the association as a second-round pick, the 22-year-old is playing and impacting the game like a first-round talent.
Through 32 games played, Mitchell is posting 18.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per 100 possessions while ranking first in long-range shooting (43.8), first in defensive rating (99.2), second in net rating (10.7) and second in plus-minus (+3.9) out of rookies who have played on 20 or more occasions.
Considering his current standing as a two-way contract player only allows him to play in up to 50 games on the year, with several months remaining on the regular season docket it appears the Thunder are a mere 18 games away from maxing him out for the rest of his rookie campaign.
However, a way for them to bypass this hard cap and keep him as a consistent contributor within Mark Daigneault's top-seeded rotation would be for Sam Presti and company to convert his pay scale into a standard NBA deal.
They have the experience in doing so with the likes of Aaron Wiggins only a few years back, so partaking yet again in such a act is by no means unfamiliar territory nor out of the realm of possibility for Oklahoma City.
1. Cash in on some of their draft assets on the trade market
Despite having the largest and most valuable assortment of draft picks in the entire league at their disposal for the better part of the last five years, the Thunder have been rather reluctant to utilize these assets in any sort of trade or large-scale transaction.
Though there's an argument to be made that holding off from striking on a blockbuster involving their hoard picks has proven to be the right move so far, as Oklahoma City is en route toward their second straight top-seeded finish in the Western Conference standings, sooner or later they're going to need to make something come of them.
They literally have too many picks to use on themselves.
2025 should be looked upon as the year they finally cash in on some of these picks, and a great way for them to do so is by way of a deal with the Brooklyn Nets to land Cameron Johnson.
Widely regarded as an ideal trade option for the Thunder, the addition of the 28-year-old would not only adhere to this New Year's resolution but, also, the first one mentioned regarding three-point shooting as he's a career 39.7 percent long-range sniper who's amid a career-best campaign boasting averages of 19.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.1 assists while shooting 42.9 percent from deep.
Of course, there are also several other options OKC could consider pursuing to help bolster their talent pool and improve upon their on-court productivity, but, regardless of who they turn to, a willingness to offload draft capital is a must!