Breakout Season was Turning Point of OKC Thunder Rebuild

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is now the face of the OKC Thunder, and some may say the entire NBA. He's cemented himself in Thunder and NBA history and is well on his way to being a historically great player.

This wasn't always the case in regard to his success and the team's, however. Gilgeous-Alexander arrived in OKC during the 2019-20 season in a blockbuster deal that shook up the NBA. Nobody expected Gilegous-Alexander to explode onto the scene like he did, partially because it took a little while to do so.

In his first season with the Thunder, he averaged 19 points per game and was already better than many thought he would be, but he still wasn't viewed as a guy with an MVP-level ceiling. His next two seasons showed steady progression and the signs became slightly clearer, but the 2022-23 season was when the picture was painted very clearly.

He showed the entire NBA what he could do as a scorer of the basketball that season. He averaged 31.4 points per game and shot 51% from the field, while adding 4.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game to that stat line. At this point, it was now evident what he was capable of and the Gilgeous-Alexander that everyone now knows had finally arrived.

That same player has delivered two more excellent seasons with plenty of hardware to show for it. He's now an MVP, Finals MVP and NBA Finals champion. All of this happened in the last season and he's now stamped in the NBA record books.

Some could say the OKC rebuild took a positive turn once they acquired Gilgeous-Alexander, but there were still a few rough seasons after he arrived that don't back that up. In 2022-23, Gilgeous-Alexander's first season of being a 30-point-per-game scorer, they went 40-42 and were the 10 seed in the Western Conference.

The next season, they were the first seed with a 57-25 record. History speaks for itself the year after that.

The season OKC's star broke out changed everything. The team's record and standing in the Western Conference improved, but so did the players around Gilgeous-Alexander. The waiting process of holding onto draft picks and making neatly-calculated signings and trades had finally paid off, given that the Thunder had their star of the future.

Plenty could have been different if he hadn't had that breakout season. Maybe the finals campaign would have been delayed a season, or maybe it wouldn't have happened at all. Regardless, that 2022-23 year was one that will long be viewed as the turning point for OKC basketball.