After embarking on their wild ride to a second-place finish in the league's second annual NBA Cup, the OKC Thunder now must shift their focus back toward regular season play.
With four months and 57 games remaining on the docket, there's still plenty of action left in this 2024-25 campaign and, with the fact that they're considered legitimate threats to take home the Larry O'Brien Trophy come year's end, there's a ton on the line going forward.
Game one of their post-tournament slate will come underway Thursday with a road tilt against the Orlando Magic.
Now, while there may be several things on Oklahoma City's mind following their recent NBA Cup demise, as we move along through the rest of the season there are three areas, in particular, the ball club should actively be looking to address.
Areas Thunder must address following loss in NBA Cup Championship
Coping with physical superiority from opposition
The Thunder have the third-best record in the entire league at 20-5 and have proven to be sensational on both ends of the floor.
However, what has become quite apparent is that they struggle mightily when facing off against bigger, more intense ball clubs.
Each of their five losses on the season have come against teams who either have had the edge in size (ex. Nuggets with Nikola Jokic and Spurs with Victor Wembanyama) or overall physicality (ex. Warriors with Draymond Green).
Tuesday's matchup against Milwaukee's towering frontcourt headlined by Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez provided both of the previously mentioned challenges for the vertically inferior Thunder.
Now, while getting the 7-foot-1 Chet Holmgren back from injury and pairing him with the club's lone surviving big man in 7-footer Isaiah Hartenstein is bound to be a much-needed upgrade, despite his two-way excellence the Thunder may ultimately still need more support to cope with opposing teams with higher physicality levels than an oft-injured, 207-pound big man.
Bench scoring
OKC may be one of the best offensive teams currently in the association, ranking eighth in offensive rating and 10 in points per game, but their second-unit scoring punch still seems to be a work in progress.
Frankly, that's putting things lightly.
Through 25 games, Oklahoma City's bench ranks 23 in points per contest (31.9), 25 in three-point shooting (32.5 percent), and 29 in true shooting percentage (52.5).
What's more puzzling is that no one on the club's bench unit is posting double-digit scoring numbers while none of their locked-in reserves (i.e. excluding Isaiah Joe or Aaron Wiggins, as both revolve in and out of the starting lineup) are even posting as many 6.0 points a night.
Their lack of bucket getters off the pine proved to be one of the many catalysts that led to their embarrassing NBA Cup Final loss to the Bucks on Tuesday night, as OKC's second unit managed to score just 15 points on a putrid 15.7 percent shooting from the field.
Of the many things the Thunder should consider looking to address through the trade or buyout market, adding a second-unit scoring spark plug should be high up on their to-do list.
That said, it's not necessarily the top problem they should try to solve via these means..
Long-range shooting
Last season, the Thunder were the top-ranked team in three-point percentage with an extremely efficient conversion rate of 38.9 percent. In 2024-25, they're a middling 19 in the league at 35.1 percent.
It's evident that Mark Daigneault's scheme is one that's heavily predicated on long-range shooting, as he has Oklahoma City hoisting up the ninth-most attempts from distance at 39.6 per night (up by nearly six shots compared to last season).
With their clear desires to let them fly from deep being met with sub-par shooting percentages, many are under the impression that Sam Presti and company must now look to add on exterior talents to help bolster their success-rate
With names like Cameron Johnson and Kevin Huerter floating around as possible targets to consider pursuing, it'll be interesting to see what the Thunder opt to do between now and February's trade deadline.