The OKC Thunder have grown accustomed to winning. Over the last three seasons, they've racked up 189 total wins, taken two consecutive trips to the Western Conference Finals, and even won the 2025 NBA Championship.
However, quietly, the ball club finds itself amid a rather long and highly underwhelming losing streak.
As OKC Thunder Wire's Clemente Almanza recently pointed out, from their final two playoff games against the San Antonio Spurs through both Summer League and preseason action, Oklahoma City has dropped a whopping 13 straight games.
Now, while the vast majority of these contests have been played without their star cornerstones, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren, in the fold, this long-standing stretch of losses is certainly something that could weigh on a club's psyche.
Hopefully, a regression to the mean will come Tuesday night against the Indiana Pacers, but, either way, coach Mark Daigneault seems to think this current rut is still finding ways to help his team learn.
Thunder coach believes latest loss is a luxury for young players
Monday's preseason loss was certainly a gut-punch due to the fact that a few costly turnovers by the Thunder and a couple of clutch buckets by Atlanta late in the contest served as the driving forces in their ultimate demise, but to coach Daigneault, the game was still incredibly valuable.
During his post-game media presser, the former Coach of the Year declared the game a "valuable" learning experience for the young, green players who suited up on the night.
Without their entire regular core rotation from last season in the fold, the Thunder lineup was filled with incoming rookies and roster bubble training camp pickups attached to non-guaranteed deals with the club.
As a result, coach Daigneault rolled out nine players who haven't yet logged serious action in the pros for double-digit minutes on the night. Exciting young prospects like Aday Mara, Bennett Stirtz, and Otega Oweh all registered north of 30 minutes played.
On top of the in-game repetitions they received on the night, this green group of Thunder players were also able to experience the feel of a clutch-time environment at the pro level, what with the fact that the game was separated by just one point with under a minute left in regulation and ended with a final score of 113-110.
Though the end result may not have been what they were hoping for, coach Daigneault believes his team "gave a good effort" and that they got "a lot out of it collectively."
Add us as a preferred source on Google