Overview
- After a 24-1 start that swelled to 25-2 by mid-December, Oklahoma City has gone 6-6 in a three-week stretch capped by a 27-point loss to the Hornets.
- Despite the skid, the defending champions remain in first place in the standings, drawing scrutiny rather than structural alarm.
- Team three-point accuracy fell from 37.9% before Dec. 13 to 32.1% since, even as the Thunder continue to generate one of the league’s highest volumes of wide-open threes and maintain strong location-based shot quality.
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s free-throw rate has dipped from 10.3 to 8.9 attempts per 36 minutes, with a team-wide decline in attempts fueling debate over the whistle he receives.
- Tracking data shows OKC moving slightly faster than last season, and GM Sam Presti has framed such rough patches as routine over an 82-game schedule.