Slowly building one of the association’s best cores over the last few years, the Oklahoma City Thunder have burst onto the scene as a title contender despite their young roster this season.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has turned into an MVP candidate while Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren round out one of the best trios in the league.
The numbers the Thunder have put up — top five in net rating, offensive rating and defensive rating — have been mostly unprecedented due to their youth and inexperience.
Barring the unforeseen, this is likely the beginning of a lengthy competitive window for the Thunder as they return to contention following a short stay in a rebuild.
Ironically enough, the only real comparison with similar circumstances involved the first iteration of the Thunder. A youthful trio of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden led OKC to an NBA Finals appearance in 2012. All three were 23 years old and younger.
Following that, the Thunder were title contenders for several years and reached four Western Conference finals in six years.
When asked about the comparison between the two trios, Gilgeous-Alexander said their version is trying to achieve similar success the first iteration had in their time with the Thunder.
“There’s three of them and there’s three of us that are obviously a talented group of guys. But I don’t really think our game compares to theirs,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Those guys are obviously three amazing basketball players and have done amazing things with this game and have changed the game forever.”
While it’s unlikely Gilgeous-Alexander, Holmgren and Williams each win an MVP in their careers, there’s a real possibility they enjoy collective success in OKC as Durant, Westbrook and Harden did.
“Me, Chet and Dub are three kids just trying to get better. Trying to chase some of the things that they achieved and try to ultimately win an NBA championship,” Gilgeous-Alexander continued. “There’s three guys that are the head of the snake just like how it was before.”
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