With under 20 games played in the 2024-25 NBA season, the OKC Thunder find themselves setting records and all-time milestones left and right.
From their historic 7-0 start to their storied defensive efforts, Oklahoma City has been on an absolute tear through this first month and change of action, and these noteworthy accomplishments aren't just limited to overall team play.
As a collective, the Thunder have clearly been dominating, but so, too, have many of their individual contributors. In fact, just recently, a couple of players, in particular, managed to make their way past former franchise studs in two of the club's all-time statistical categories.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort move up on Thunder all-time list
Throughout the team's 17-year tenure out in Oklahoma City, they have managed to roster quite a number of superb talents, ranging from superstars to sensational role players.
Now, during these early stages of the season, two former ballers who fall into each of these aforementioned camps have already been leapfrogged by the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort in some of the club's Thunder-era ranks.
The former surpassed beloved forever member of the organization, Nick Collison, for fourth place in total blocks (265 compared to 258). The latter, meanwhile, has now moved up to sixth in total points scored with 3,894 following Sunday's 18-point outing against the Dallas Mavericks, narrowly edging out former MVP candidate Paul George's 3,893 mark.
These accomplishments, though certainly exciting to see, should come as no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to OKC this year, as the duo finds themselves amid arguably their best campaigns to date.
For Dort, he's performing at easily his most efficient rate on offense since entering the league back in 2019-20, as he's posting 12.2 points per game while shooting lights-out averages of 47.5 percent from the floor and 44.9 percent from distance.
As for Gilgeous-Alexander, while he may be lacking in offensive efficiency this season with his lower-than-usual 28.5 points on 50.5 percent shooting and 31.6 percent shooting from deep (down from 30.1 points on 53.5 percent shooting from the floor and 35.3 percent shooting from deep in 2023-24), his defensive efforts have truly been astonishing.
Through 14 games, he is sporting career-highs in blocks (1.2), defensive box plus-minus (+2.4), and defensive rating (103).
While these two may have been the most recent Thunder to set new high-end statuses within the organization's historic ranks, this is not to say they will be the only ones to have done so by year's end.
Considering the trajectory the team as a whole is currently on, one could say it's a safe bet that they won't be.