Do OKC Thunder Need to Add More Shooting at Trade Deadline?

The Thunder haven't been able to repeat last season's shooting success, which raises various questions ahead of the deadline.

Jan 29, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Kenrich Williams (34) shoots over Golden State Warriors forward Kevon Looney (5) in the second quarter at the Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images / Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

Oklahoma City has been one of the league’s best, but one area has been a weakness throughout the season.

On Wednesday night, the Thunder lost to the Golden State Warriors 116-109 to fall to 37-9. While Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s brilliance was on display with a 52-point performance, his teammates struggled to add to the offense, particularly from beyond the arc.

Against Golden State, the Thunder shot 9-of-39 from beyond the arc, the team’s third-worst performance from outside this season. While this performance could be thrown out as an outlier, the Thunder have now shot under 30% from 3-point range in eight games this season. That puts them on roughly the same pace for sub-30% shooting as they had last season, with 14 such performances as the league’s leader in 3-point percentage.

Of course, the real question is about just how harmful those poor shooting performances have been. Coming into Wednesday, the Thunder were 7-0 in games they shot worse than 30% from deep, which could be a signal to stay away from any big moves at the deadline.

While the lows are relatively similar to last season and haven’t hurt the Thunder much, the highs haven’t been as high. This season, the Thunder have shot at least 40% from deep 13 times across 46 contests, which puts them nowhere near pace to match their 39 performances from last season. 

Still, Oklahoma City has been a middle-of-the-pack team from outside, ranking 16th in 3-point percentage at 35.5%. Considering the Thunder’s goal is to win a championship, comparing those numbers to previous champions could paint a picture of how dire the Thunder’s need for outside shooting may be.

Nine of the past 10 NBA champions have finished in the top 10 in 3-point percentage and shot at least 36% from deep. While that could spell out a need for the Thunder to make a push for shooting help at the deadline, they could also take a look at their similarities to the lone outlier, the 2019-20 Lakers.

Much like the Thunder, shooting was not a strength for the Lakers, who had firm control of the West’s No. 1 seed for most of the season. Instead, they prided themselves on defense and, despite concerns from the outside about their shooting deficiencies, steamrolled to an NBA title and lost only five games in the postseason.

Considering the Thunder’s dominance defensively, they could have a similar run this season, particularly with Chet Holmgren’s looming return in mind. While the Thunder’s poor shooting was on full display against the Warriors on Wednesday, they have shot much better since their horrific shooting start. 

The Thunder finished January shooting 38% from deep, good for eighth in the league. While it is only a 14-game sample size in an 82-game marathon, the Thunder’s shooting could be coming around to a point where potentially messing up the chemistry and defensive excellence would be a shortsighted move.

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