Oklahoma City has certainly been making moves over the last week or so.
The Thunder are over .500 for the first time this year. They’ve won four straight games, a season’s best. Three of those four victories were comebacks from at least 18 points down.
Dennis Schroder is in the midst of the best season of his career and is coming off a week in which he averaged 25.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 6 assists per game. Good enough to earn him league honors for the Western Conference Player of the Week.
All in all, things are looking up for Oklahoma City, their spot in the Uproxx power rankings included.
This week, OKC moved up a spot to No. 13.
Billy Donovan’s team has nine wins in its last 12 games and, during that run, the Thunder have been a top-12 team in the NBA on both ends of the floor. Oklahoma City’s +4.7 net rating, even in a small sample, paints a favorable picture and the Thunder are now above the .500 mark at 15-14 and firmly in the playoff discussion in the Western Conference.
Oklahoma City’s success, this most recent week, in particular, is due in part to outstanding guard play from Schroder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who set and then matched a career-high 32 this week, and Chris Paul.
Gilgeous-Alexander continues to look better and better, averaging 21.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game (on high-end efficiency) in the last nine games. He is flanked by an All-Star caliber contributor in Paul, even if his best days are behind him. The future Hall of Famer isn’t as prolific as he was in his prime, but Paul has a 61 percent true shooting and strong per-minute averages that remind the NBA world of just how good he is.
The Thunder look to have more wins coming, with Memphis and Charlotte on the schedule.
Long-term success will be a question of if Sam Presti decides to keep the team together. Paul, Danilo Gallinari, and Steven Adams are available to be traded, and there are teams that are reportedly interested in Adams.
But for the moment, Oklahoma City has done what most people believed they couldn’t prior to the start of the season – win.