After 5 Games, OKC Thunder's Shooting Continues to be a Concern

The Oklahoma City Thunder are among the NBA's final unbeaten teams to start the 2025-26 campaign.

In the first week of the season, OKC has overcome a handful of injuries and decifits in multiple contests to secure a 5-0 record, but it hasn't always been pretty.

Oklahoma City needed heroics from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and contributions from other pieces on the roster to come away with a few narrow victories early in the season. The team's third 5-0 start in franchise history is a sign that the Thunder are again one of the best teams in the league, but the group clearly needs to improve in a few areas.

OKC should once again have a strong defense, but the group has struggled to consistently hit shots from the perimeter this season. That comes on the heels of a lackluster shooting performance during the 2025 postseason that nearly cost the Thunder in series against Denver and Indiana.

Even in Tuesday night's win against Sacramento, Oklahoma City shot 31.8% from beyond the arc, connecting on 14 of the team's 44 attempts. OKC shot 25% from deep against Houston on opening night, 28.6% against the Indiana Pacers and 20% against the Dallas Mavericks.

The Thunder's best 3-point shooting performance of the year came against Atlanta, where Mark Daigneault's team shot 37.8% from deep.

Five games is a small sample size, but given Oklahoma City's struggles during the postseason, the Thunder's shooting could be a real concern for a team that has championship aspirations.

Of course, injuries have played a major role in OKC's struggles thus far, as players like Isaiah Joe, Kenrich Williams and Jalen Williams have yet to play this year. Chet Holmgren, Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace have also missed games early in the 2025-26 campaign.

Adding the Thunder's sharpshooter and All-NBA wing back to the lineup will certainly make life easier for Oklahoma City's offense, and create more space for the players who have struggle to make shots. The emergence of Ajay Mitchell should give OKC another scoring punch when its other rotation pieces return to action.

Still, though, the Thunder struggled during the team's 2024-25 playoff run, even with a near completely healthy lineup. Jalen Williams was dealing with a wrist injury, but the group as a whole couldn't consistently knock down triples.

That could change with more time together on the court as OKC gets healthy and returns to its normal lineup, but a trade or offseason signing may be the Thunder's best chance to add reliable shooting.

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