Over the two campaigns leading into 2025-26, the OKC Thunder established themselves as one of the best perimeter-scoring teams in the association, finishing with the sixth- and first-ranked three-point shooting percentages in 2024-25 and 2023-24, respectively.
This year, unfortunately, it appears this success rate has failed to flow on through, as they currently place a middling 16 in the NBA with a clip of just 35.5 percent.
This alone is a statistic that should be cause for concern for Oklahoma City as they aim to become the league's first repeat champion in nearly a decade, though there's one other metric that's truly a cause for long-term concern.
They've let up the the third-most three-pointers so far this year.
OKC Thunder allowing opponents to thrive from beyond the arc
Through 40 games, the Thunder have allowed their opponents to cash in on a whopping 584 shots from beyond the arc, shooting a highly efficient 37.6 percent, which equates to 14.6 makes per game and ties them with the New York Knicks for the third-highest rate in the league.
Comparatively, Oklahoma City has made just 527 triples of their own this year, ranking just 14 in the league.
Needless to say, three-point shooting has been quite a polarizing area of play for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company.
Now, perhaps the most frustrating part about all of this is the fact that, despite these lackluster numbers, there are plenty of quality snipers residing on their roster, as they have five core players who are shooting north of 37.0 percent, including SGA, who's splashing home on a career-best 39.6 percent clip.
Unfortunately, due to various reasons such as injuries and, in Isaiah Joe's case, incredibly poor defensive efforts, coach Mark Daigneault has not been able to utilize their skills as often as OKC clearly needs.
Through the very early stages of the year, the Thunder were able to overcome being outshot from distance due, in large part, to their favorable schedule.
However, since mid-December, the level of competition has seemingly increased, and so, too, have their losses, as they've gone just 9-6 since their NBA Cup semifinal loss to the Spurs after starting 25-3 heading into the bout.
It's no coincidence that they've allowed opponents to make 228 shots and shoot 38.8 percent from deep since (ranked third and second-worst in the league, respectively) while making just 172 shots on 31.2 percent shooting themselves.
Finding a solution to this discrepancy should be goal number one for the Thunder moving forward, as it could truly be the difference between their recent rut being a mere one-off or one that's bound to pop up again at some point down the road.