The OKC Thunder breezed through the 2024-25 regular season, and now, after roughly two weeks of action, it appears they are carrying this dominant momentum over into the 2025 NBA Playoffs.
With their four-game sweep over the Memphis Grizzlies in round one, Oklahoma City finds itself awaiting word on who their next opponent will be as they head to the Western Conference Semifinals for the second consecutive year.
Regardless of whether it's the LA Clippers or Denver Nuggets, there's little doubt that the Thunder will be viewed as favorites in their forthcoming best-of-seven showdown.
Yet, despite their enviable status among the oddsmakers, in order to better their chances of claiming their first conference finals berth in nearly a decade, on-court improvements are undoubtedly necessary.
While they may have bested the 48-win Grizzlies in four games by an average margin of victory of 19.5 points, OKC was far from an example of a flawless team. In fact, there were a few individuals who, surprisingly, struggled during their first-round series and must look to get more involved in round two.
Aaron Wiggins
Heading into the postseason, Aaron Wiggins was seen by many as one of the biggest X-factors for this Thunder squad.
Considering the second-unit spark plug had just wrapped up a career-best campaign with averages of 12.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.8 assists on 48.8 percent shooting from the floor and 38.3 percent shooting from distance, the 26-year-old being viewed in such a light should have come as no surprise.
However, in their first-round series against the Grizzlies, the wing's positive impact, which fans had grown accustomed to seeing, was seemingly nowhere to be found.
Seeing significant drops in his per-game production, Wiggins wrapped up the quarterfinals with averages of just 9.5 points and 1.5 boards on a highly inefficient 30.8 percent shooting from deep.
On top of his lapse in offensive effectiveness, his defensive efforts have also been a somewhat under-the-radar struggle, as he allowed his opponents to shoot at a team-worst 45.4 percent clip.
Though perhaps not technically a star cornerstone on this Thunder team, Aaron Wiggins has undoubtedly proven himself as a pivotal piece to their historic success throughout the year.
Moving forward, they're certainly going to need him to break out of this slump.
Lu Dort
Lu Dort is both the best defensive weapon the Thunder have at their disposal and, with his 41.2 percent shooting clip on 5.8 attempts per game, their most reliable perimeter scoring threat.
Unsurprisingly, his efforts on the less glamorous side of the ball have transitioned stupendously into postseason play, as he ranks among the top defensive-rated players among all starters (101.2 rating) and is forcing his opponents into 11.0 turnovers a night.
Unfortunately, it has been his shooting stroke that has yet to show up, with the veteran boasting a putrid clip of 30.8 percent from the floor and an even worse 26.1 percent from distance.
Per Cleaning the Glass, OKC finds their offensive punch improving quite drastically with the beloved Dort off the floor, as they go from averaging 120.8 points per 100 possessions and an effective field goal percentage of 53.5 to 127.6 points and a 57.6 effective field goal percentage.
A key reason why the Thunder were bounced from round two of last year's playoff run was because of their poor long-range shooting (shot a league-worst 33.5 percent from deep against Dallas). As things currently stand, they are at an even worse 31.3 percent clip.
In order to fix this major weakness, Oklahoma City's best shooters must find their rhythm.
Without question, Dort will need to play a huge role in this department.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Coming into the playoffs, a serious concern about this Thunder team was whether they could effectively produce offensively without being overly reliant on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
To the delight of many, round one showed that they could, in fact, do exactly that, as they managed to coast to a 4-0 series win over Memphis while the superstar centerpiece saw some of his worst statistical performances in years.
Now, while on the one hand, such a happening seems to quell the fear surrounding perhaps this team's most glaring flaw from throughout the regular season, on the other, there are questions popping up left and right about SGA's incredibly unproductive start to the 2025 postseason.
In several key areas of play, Gilgeous-Alexander has seen his averages take a nose dive -- points (27.8 compared to 32.7), assists (shooting splits (40.2/25.0 compared to 51.9/37.5), etc.
With him off the floor, the Thunder improve in crucial aspects of the game, such as points per 100 possessions (120.8 to 122.5), effective field goal percentage (53.5 to 62.2), opponent points per 100 possessions (101.9 to 93.0), and net rating (19.8 to 30.7).
While it's certainly exciting to see his supporting cast hold down the fort amid his slump thus far, in order for OKC to reach their full potential Shai Gilgeous-Alexander needs to be playing at his absolute best.
So far, we have yet to see such a level of play.