OKC Thunder's Large 3 Is Championship Prepared

Whereas the 2025 Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder’s resume will stack up with a few of the best of all time ought to they win the NBA Finals, the informal fan should still consider this crew is league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander enjoying the star whereas his teammates assume lesser roles within the manufacturing. 

If Monday’s resounding Sport 4 victory in Minnesota proved something, it’s the crew in Oklahoma Metropolis is rather more of an ensemble forged than it’s a Gilgeous-Alexander carry job. If the emergence of Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren continues on the trajectory Sport 4 exemplified, the NBA’s newfound period of parity could be much more short-lived than many would hope.

Supporting Solid Emerges

Whereas Gilgeous-Alexander in fact led the best way together with his first 40-point playoff outing, Williams was proper behind his teammate with 34 factors and a 6-of-9 capturing clip from 3-point vary. Holmgren served as a dominant defensive presence with a team-high 4 “shares” (analytical jargon for steals + blocks) to go together with 21 factors on 9-of-14 capturing and 7 rebounds. 

The soiled secret behind SGA’s 40-ball on Monday was his 13-of-30 efficiency from the sector total and his 2-of-9 clip from 3-point vary. Williams went 13-of-24 from the sector total, that means the third-year guard out of Santa Clara had the identical quantity of made subject targets as the present MVP of the league on six much less photographs. That time should be emphasised to not criticize SGA, however to contextualize simply what Thunder GM Sam Presti has inbuilt Oklahoma Metropolis.

“The factor I am most impressed with about (Williams) is his capacity to study from his experiences in a short time,” Thunder coach Mark Daigenault mentioned. “He had some video games within the Denver collection the place he wasn’t nice offensively. He simply appears to be like at it in a really intentional method and he improves. Shai did job of discovering him, however I simply assume his carryover and his development from sport to sport is thrilling as a result of he’s nonetheless a younger participant, as nice of a participant as he’s.”

J-Dub this postseason:

20.5 PPG
5.6 RPG
5.3 APG
1.7 SPG

High two in PPG, APG and SPG for the Thunder. pic.twitter.com/nXmHdEwAxb

— StatMuse (@statmuse) Might 27, 2025

What Monday additionally confirmed is that the NBA will seemingly don’t have any reply for this rising ensemble forged. The Thunder’s beginning lineup took 72 subject aim makes an attempt and scored 101 factors in whole, with 68 of these subject aim makes an attempt and 95 of these factors coming from the “Large 3” that consists of Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Holmgren.

Reinforcements Nonetheless To Come

Oh, and I say that it’s a rising ensemble forged as a result of Presti nonetheless has what seems like half the league’s draft capital and a Serbian phenom by the identify of Nikola Subject ready within the wings. 

How is that attainable, you ask? As a result of the Thunder nonetheless had the No. 12 choose in final yr’s NBA Draft regardless of having the very best common season report within the NBA. With that choose, they selected Subject, who at one level was slated to go on the very prime of the 2024 NBA Draft earlier than struggling a torn ACL that required him to overlook the 2024-25 season. Thus, the wealthy get richer. 

Nikola Subject ranked amongst Europe's greatest PNR gamers at 18, which is horrifying contemplating how a lot PGs usually enhance with age and expertise. His capacity to make instantaneous reads, map out the court docket, and course of the sport with surgical precision is a uncommon and coveted commodity. pic.twitter.com/AXQmmJdeR0

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) June 10, 2024

The Thunder personal the Miami Warmth’s first-round choose this season, inserting them proper outdoors the lottery with the No. 15 total choose regardless of the crew being on monitor for an NBA title. Oklahoma Metropolis additionally owns Philadelphia and Utah’s first-round picks in 2026, although the 76ers’ choose is protected if it lands within the 1-4 vary, whereas Utah’s could be protected if it falls throughout the 1-8 vary. 

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