After enduring a hard-fought, seven-game NBA Championship series and, in turn, the shortest offseason in the entire league, the OKC Thunder are trudging right on through these early stages of the 2025-26 campaign as good as any team possibly could.
Through six games, Oklahoma City leads the association with a 6-0 record, ranks first in defensive rating (104.1), turnover percentage (11.6), and possessions (630), and is fifth in plus-minus (+9.3).
If this weren't enough to encourage the fanbase moving forward, oddly enough, perhaps the fact that they're playing this well while shooting at an abysmal rate from beyond the arc just might.
Thunder are dominating despite egregiously bad long-range shooting
Though it may sound a tad odd, Oklahoma City's struggles from deep should actually excite the fanbase.
Now nearly a month into regular season action, the Thunder find themselves cashing in on a putrid 29.6 percent from three-point range, a mark that currently ranks second-worst in the NBA.
While certainly not an enviable stat, the fact that they remain one of only a handful of undefeated teams left in the league despite these struggles is truly impressive.
Obviously, the goal should be to excel in every aspect of the game, like they essentially did last season.
In many respects, they are doing exactly this -- outside of three-point shooting, that is.
Fortunately, over the past few seasons, this same core has proven capable of consistently lighting it up from deep. Let's not forget that, back in 2023-24, they ranked first in long-range shooting percentage (38.9) and, just last season, placed sixth (37.4).
Even with their struggles from distance, many pundits still have the Thunder heading toward a 70-win finish and are still viewed as the odds-on favorites to take home the 2026 Larry O'Brien Trophy.
With 76 games remaining on the regular season docket, the expectation is that this team will wind up seeing some positive regression in the shooting department.
After all, there are nine mainstays within their roster who boast long-range shooting percentages north of 35.0 percent for their careers, two of whom, Kenrich Williams (36.5) and, most notably, Jalen Williams (38.2), have yet to even suit up for in-game action this year due to health-related ailments.
As the campaign progresses, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder are projected to continue on with their dominant play on the floor, and, based on this team's history, will almost certainly see an uptick in the shooting department come year's end.
Considering they've already gone undefeated with these shooting woes, figuring it out could wind up make them virtually unstoppable.