OKC Thunder Have Been Building for Arrival for Years

The Oklahoma City Thunder play a very unique style. Developing that style hasn't been a flip of the switch for the Thunder, but there is one game in particular that can point towards the moment the team began to click.

"That basketball, that was a look at what it could potentially be over time. There was just a symmetry of the group and a fortitude of the group," Sam Presti said in his post-season presser in 2022. "I sent that section of the game to Mark [Daigneault] and we talked about it later."

The game Presti is talking about? A 104-102 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on January 17, 2022. The team fell to 14-29 after the loss, too.

The Thunder showed early sings of promise, though. The sings of a team with real potential were shining, and the postseason arrival this year is much less surprising when looking at this game.

In that particular game, the Thunder began to mount a second-half comeback, falling just short of finishing the game out with a win.

Looking at this past season, where the Thunder finished 40-42, the groundworks of a team playing together were showing. The team looked whole and the style of play that the Thunder had been working on putting together was successful.

For example, the Thunder were without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the teams All-Star and First Team All-NBA guard, on Jan. 3, 2023 when they played the Boston Celtics. The shorthanded Thunder defeated the Boston Celtics 150-117 to advance their record to 16-21.

This was seemingly when the Thunder turned a corner as a team. The team was unable to play without their star while maintaining their consistent paint touches and quick decisions attacking from the perimeter. Every player was in tune and they were able to torch the Celtics defense.

"A lot of times you think these things take longer than they should," Presti said. "But when they happen, they happen faster than you though they could."

The Thunder have been able to make an arrival and build up plenty of hype around themselves, but that wasn't without years of preparation and building a system on top of compiling the proper talent.

Players like Tre Mann, looking to establish themselves in the NBA, can benefit from this style of basketball because proving to other teams you can play in a system built on quick decisions and selfless basketball can fit almost anywhere.

Part of the reason head coach Mark Daigneault had his contract extended and was runner-up for the Coach of the Year award was his ability to take the franchise and establish a definable culture and system. Even with his career record, teams and media understand his value as a coach.

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