The OKC Thunder Offense has been Explosive to Begin 2023

Oklahoma City is off to a fast start offensively in 2023, starting the new year 2-1 and scoring at least 115 points in each contest.

In OKC’s two wins including downing the Wizards on Friday they’ve scored 150 and 127 points respectively. As a team, OKC is averaging 130.6 points per game in 2023.

They've also seen a huge rise in scoring from their individual players. So far in January, OKC has five players scoring 14 points or more per game.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has played in just two of the three games to begin the year, but as expected continues on a fast path to an All-Star game. He’s averaging 31.5 points per game, 3.5 rebounds and four assists.

To begin the season OKC struggled to find a backup piece to SGA in the starting rotation. Josh Giddey has answered that call.

Over the course of the three games of January he’s averaging 20.5 points per game, 5.3 rebounds and six assists.

With the help of the hot start in 2023, Giddey has raised his season scoring numbers to over 15 points per game and his shooting improvement continues to catch eyes.

The other expected key contributor is Lu Dort. After a slow start to the season, Dort has found his footing. In the 2-1 start to the year he’s averaging 18 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists. He may not be the true second option in OKC with Giddey’s new found shooting success, but he’s still providing good numbers for the team as they continue to fight in the Western Conference.

OKC’s prized rookie Chet Holmgren hasn’t stepped foot on the court for OKC in a game this season, but another rookie has found immediate success.

Jalen Williams has continued his incredible rookie campaign. In 2023 he’s averaging 14.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists. Williams is scoring nearly three points more than his season average and continues to show improvement.

Prior to the season OKC made a move to acquire Isaiah Joe to bring more 3-point shooting to the team, recently that trade has begun to pay off as he has exploded off of the bench.

In the span of 2023 he’s averaging 14 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists. The points double his season average as he continues to carve a role for himself in OKC.

Since the beginning of 2023, the Thunder offense has shown increased production and improvement. OKC now ranks 21st in offensive rating in the league, which shows more improvement is still needed. The team is seventh in the league in points per game, and first in the league over each team’s last three games.

OKC still has room to improve on both sides of the court, but 2023 has shown strides are being made.

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