Oklahoma City is in the Central United States, whose location, known as Thunder Alley, is frequented by tornadoes. The city is also home to the US Army’s 45th Infantry Division, the Thunderbird Division.
This is how OKC adopted the Thunder nickname.
The past few years, the Thunder, with its accumulated picks of 36 first and second round draft picks up to 2028, is making the most of their young cast. Currently, they are occupying the Western Conference’s top spot in the standings with an 18-5 win-loss record. Overall, they run third behind the Cleveland Cavaliers (21-3) and defending champions Boston Celtics (19-5).
Their success can be attributed to the solid defense they put up every playing day. OKC’s defense was one of the NBA’s best last season but somehow, they had gotten ever better this time and is in fact the league’s best and is winning them games.
With an average age of a little over 25 years old, the Thunder made history last season by becoming the youngest average age team to go into the playoffs as the number 1 seed.
OKC is led by the 25-year old Shai Gilgeous Alexander who’s currently number 4 in league scoring with a 29.8 clip per outing. Jalen Williams is OKC’s second-best offensive option but the 23-year old is more than scoring as he is among the league’s leaders in steals. Aside from scoring, Shai does almost two steals per game.
The Thunder depends elite defenders Lou Dort, Cason Wallace and Isaiah Hartenstein for their and the addition of Alex Caruso further strengthened their defensive dominance.
Prior to his hip injury after a bad fall early in the season, Chet Holmgren, 22, is the opposing team’s biggest problem in the middle. The 7-1 center had per game averages of 16.4 points and 2.6 blocks. He probably will return to active duty by February.
Hartenstein started at center in Holmgren’s absence and the former Knick is contributing well with 12 points and almost 12 rebounds per game. Another center, Jaylin Williams, is also out with a hamstring injury and his return timeline is uncertain.
We can only imagine if Holmgren, who can play four, and Williams are good to play plus Hartenstein. It will be a rolling thunder for OKC.
I just wish the Laker management had the same foresight as OKC’s Sam Presti but they had given too much entitlement to the game’s greatest diva that the former glamorous franchise had become the league’s comedy of errors.