Through 20 games into the 2024-25 NBA season, the OKC Thunder have had quite an amazing start.
Residing atop the Western Conference standings with a 15-5 record, it's more than evident that guys like the MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Isaiah Hartenstein should all be receiving praise for giving this team the push they've needed.
Of course, even with their successes and impressive individual performances, Oklahoma City still has experienced some notable hardships and setbacks, such as their poor shooting production as a collective and widespread injury woes.
On top of these overarching impacts, on a more individualistic scale, several players have greatly underperformed through this point in the year, with two, in particular, who deserve some calling out.
Thunder players who have underperformed through first 20 games
Cason Wallace
Cason Wallace is going through a tough sophomore slump at the moment.
So far, the 21-year-old has shot 28.3 percent from distance, while only averaging 6.6 points per game, a stark decrease from his rookie campaign.
Now, granted, slumps do happen in every player's career, but this one is starting to turn from a simple slide into a tumultuous trend, as the former lottery pick is not showing much improvement and is one of the core reasons the Thunder have lost certain games.
Take the first loss of the season against the Denver Nuggets, for example. Oklahoma City ended up losing by just two points. On the night, Wallace would only have four points on 2-for-8 shooting and missing all three of his long-range attempts.
To his credit, he has shown up in other areas of the game, especially on the defensive end, but all the efforts on the less glamourous side of the ball don't matter if you cannot make a shot -- not in the modern era, anyway.
His most recent game did show promise, as he went 3-of-6 from deep, but the team still ended up losing to the Rockets.
For a player that the Thunder want to keep, Wallace has to show improvement so he can stay in OKC for the long term.
Alex Caruso
Just like Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso is supposed to be one of the league's best 3-and-D players, but he has been lacking in the former department.
So far in 13 games played this season, the 30-year-old is averaging 5.0 points per game on 20.5 percent shooting from distance, a career low for the veteran.
Caruso could have changed the outcome of multiple games he's played this season if he could have simply lived up to his established billing on the offensive end, with Oklahoma City's latest loss against San Antonio serving as the most recent example of this.
The swingman would shoot a depleting 1-of-7 from the field, and miss every three-point shot he took. The Thunder would end up losing this matchup 110-104.
In his defense, he has been injured for just over half the season, missing seven games so far.
We also have seen brighter days from the veteran. With the return of Isaiah Hartenstein, Caruso simultaneously went on to have his best game of the season, scoring 17 points while shooting 72.7 percent from the field.
There is no telling when he will return to the court, but once he does, Thunder fans will need to see his three-point shot come together if this team wishes to make a run at a championship.