Upcoming Thunder Season will Highlight Fit Between Star Guards

Now that Chet Holmgren is on the shelf for the entirety of the season, Thunder fans will be craving players to get behind. Missing out on Holmgren’s initial rookie season is certainly a bummer, but Oklahoma City still has two incredibly promising youngsters on the roster currently cemented as cornerstones.

Both Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey experienced moments of greatness last season, making Oklahoma City feel good about their future plans. The one concern, though, is that both players envision their primary position to be point guard, and people from the outside in have been quick to predict tension. While tension is a stretch, and that will likely never be an issue, it’s not a stretch to say it’s something Oklahoma City has to shore up.

Giddey and Gilgeous-Alexander can each handle the ball at a very high level. Gilgeous-Alexander is definitely a better shooter at this point in his career, making him more valuable off the ball. Giddey is at his best as a distributing playmaker, which is what he could be in Oklahoma City’s offense when it’s fully unlocked.

At times, the fit between the two guards looked unnatural. There’s no need to sugar coat it. It’s still safe to question if it will ever fully work or if it will remain slightly forced. But down the stretch of last season, Giddey and Gilgeous-Alexander started to show chemistry and promise. For the first time, it really looked like the experiment could work.

Unfortunately, both star guards missed time across the last two months of the season with different injuries. Just before things went south, the pair was finally starting to find a groove. In Giddey’s last game of the season, a February battle against the Suns, he added an efficient 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists. SGA dropped a game-high 32 points on 13-of-22 shooting. Giddey had been playing well individually with Gilgeous-Alexander missing time, but this game proved they could share the backcourt together.

There’s no silver lining to not having Holmgren for his rookie season, but giving Gilgeous-Alexander and Giddey extra time to develop chemistry can’t be a bad thing. After all, the rebuild seems to revolve around the duo’s compatibility for now.

Both Gilgeous-Alexander and Giddey must continue to adapt and adjust to make the pairing work. If it ever clicks, Oklahoma City will have two elite playmakers on the floor at all times.

At next season's end, the Thunder management will have a very clear idea in what they have in their backcourt of the future. Adding Holmgren, and likely another top pick in the draft, next summer will likely be one of the final pieces to the equation before the green light. It all starts with how Giddey and Gilgeous-Alexander share the floor, though.

Without injuries and inconsistent rotational lineups, SGA and Giddey will have a full season to see how their games mesh. Gilgeous-Alexander has excelled both on and off the ball in different NBA seasons, and will have a chance to test out more of a hybrid role in 2022-23. Oklahoma City's ceiling will be directly determined by the duo's progression.

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