OKC Thunder Bench Finding its Stride at the Perfect Time

Oklahoma City has been the NBA’s most dominant team to start the season — and they’ve done it without a handful of key players. The amount of sheer talent combined with the collective buy in has been evident, and it’s hard for opposing teams to come up with an answer. There are so many guys deep on Oklahoma City’s bench that many teams across the league would do anything to have in their rotation.

Of course, the main catalyst has been and always will be Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He's playing at an MVP level once again and impacting so many different things on the court. But the team's supporting cast has really picked up its play as of late, and specifcally, the Thunder's bench has started to hit its stride.

It was a makeshift bench unit to start the season, as a handful of players that would typically come off the bench were thrown into starter roles due to the Thunder's lengthy injury report. But now, the bench is once again becoming a strong suit, even with the injuries that the team is dealing with. Over the last few games, Oklahoma City's reserves have completely changed the complexity of the game.

On Thursday night, Oklahoma City dominated the Lakers in a marquee matchup, and the Thunder's bench simply overwhelmed Los Angeles. OKC's bench poured in 49 total points, good for 40.5% of the team's total output. They had three reserves in double figures, led by Isaiah Joe with 21 points. Oklahoma City's young prospect Ousmane Dieng had his best game of the season, too, with 10 points on 5-of-8 from the floor.

The game before, in another assertive 126-102 victory against Golden State, the Thunder's bench unit totaled 47 points. The Warriors had no answer for Oklahoma City's depth, and ended up pulling their starters early because of it. The most minutes a starter for the Warriors saw on Wednesday night was 23.

It was more of the same earlier in the week against Memphis, too, as both Joe and Alex Caruso eclipsed 20 points off the bench.

The best news for Oklahoma City is that when the team is fully healthy, guys that were deeper on the bench will have much more experience in elevated roles this season. Starters that have played at a high level like Ajay Mitchell and Cason Wallace will be elite off the bench, too. The reserves were never truly a weakness for the Thunder, but the last week of basketball has proved how big of a strength that the unit can turn into.

At 12-1, this team is in a different league from its competition right now. And when the team returns to full strength, it could get even scarier for the rest of the league. The Thunder's bench will have a huge impact on the rest of the season, that's for certain.