Thunder in Review: Growing Pains Plague Early-Season Performance

Heading into the 2022-23 NBA season, expectations for Oklahoma City were low around the league, especially after the team lost second overall draft pick Chet Holmgren to a season-ending foot injury over the summer. The Thunder, however, proved that they would be a tough out all year, and that the days of rebuilding had not cooled the team's desire to compete and win games.

OKC started out 0-3, seemingly the start of yet another season of positioning for draft picks. After back-to-back home wins over the Los Angeles Clippers, though, the team showed that it wasn't ready to succumb to preseason forecasts.

Following its defeat of the Clippers, Oklahoma City pulled off one its most important victories of the season, a 117-111 overtime win over the Mavericks in Dallas.

Sharpshooter Isaiah Joe endeared himself to Thunder fans by knocking down a clutch 3-pointer to help OKC close a sixteen-point deficit in less than five minutes for the first time in NBA history.

Signed off waivers just a few weeks prior, Joe would knock down two more triples in overtime to help push the Thunder past the Mavericks, which would end up granting Oklahoma City the tiebreaker in the Western Conference standings at the end of the year. A few days later, the Thunder took down the Orlando Magic for the team's fourth consecutive victory, tied for the longest streak OKC achieved all year.

At 4-3, this was also the only time Oklahoma City had a winning record during the 2022-23 season. After their brief success early on, the team's youth caught up to them while head coach Mark Daigneault was still figuring out how his team fit together.

During the early months of the season, Tre Mann and Aleksej Pokusevski were featured much more heavily in the rotation. As the year progressed, Mann was phased out due to the quality of play by Joe while Pokusevski suffered a leg injury that sidelined the Serbian big man for months.

In the team's first 36 games, Mann played more than 20 minutes in a contest 17 times. In the team's final 46 games, however, Mann saw the floor for 20 minutes or more only eight times.

Many of the minutes once occupied by Mann were now being allotted to Joe and rookie wing Jalen Williams, who was beginning to emerge as a very talented young player.

From the beginning of the season to the end of 2022, Oklahoma City went 15-21. This wasn't a large improvement from the year prior, when the team was 13-23 in its first 36 matchups.

This season's Thunder team looked much different from its previous iteration, though. While the inconsistencies of a young team were prevalent, the talent and effort of OKC's roster were undeniable, giving fans hope for the remainder of the season and years to come.

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