Thunder Mailbag: A Historic Team Has Arrived in OKC

Answering the three best questions submitted to this week’s mailbag.

Jan 5, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) moves the ball around Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday (4) during the fourth quarter at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Entering the 2024-25 campaign, the Oklahoma City Thunder had external expectations to be great. Following a season earning the Western Conference’s top seed, Oklahoma City made brilliant moves to enhance the roster in the offseason.

As high as those expectations were, the Thunder has shattered them thus far. At 30-5 and riding a 15-game winning streak, OKC is once again at the top of the West with a 6.5-game cushion over of the Houston Rockets, who hold the second seed. 

After beating the Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, LA Clippers, New York Knicks and Boston Celtics all within the past week and a half, the schedule won’t get any easier. The Thunder now have the Cleveland Cavaliers — the one team (31-4) in the NBA with a better record than OKC — on the schedule next, followed by a rematch with the Knicks. It’s a pivotal time in the season for the Thunder, with a very bright future ahead. 

Let’s answer the three best questions that were submitted for this week’s mailbag:

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What Does OKC Need to do to Hit “Elite” Status?

I think it’s pretty clear that the Thunder is an elite team. Winning 30 of your first 35 games is no easy task, and it's something that only the best teams in any given season are able to do. This is a historic OKC defense, but the offense is still inconstant. I suppose the one way this team could be even more elite would be by figuring out how to become a top-ten offense while also getting healthy. Chet Holmgren and Alex Caruso have missed this key stretch of the schedule with injuries. 

When Do You Expect Chet Holmgren to Be Back?

We should be getting an update on his return-to-play plan any day now. The window for a medical update is here, meaning sometime in the next two weeks the Thunder should provide more guidance. It’s impossible to know if that update will include a target return to the court or if it will be more generic, but my guess is that he’ll be back the first game following the NBA All-Star break in mid to late February. 

Who is the Biggest Threat in the West for OKC?

In the regular season, there’s really not a threat. Especially given the Thunder will only continue to get healthier in the coming weeks, the assumption is this 6.5-game cushion between OKC and the rest of the top teams will be enough to hold that top spot for at least the foreseeable future. Of course, crazier things have happened, and a significant injury to someone like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could change this answer completely. But for now, OKC is in the driver’s seat in the regular season as it relates to standings in the West. With that in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Denver Nuggets or Memphis Grizzlies get hot and make things interesting later in the season. The playoffs are an entirely different story. There are a ton of threats in the Western Conference, given the level of talent and ability to find success in a single series. The Thunder is the favorite to come out of the Western Conference in the playoffs as of now, but it’s by no means a lock. The Dallas Mavericks, along with the previously mentioned Grizzlies and Nuggets, could pose the biggest threat. I wouldn’t forget about the Timberwolves, too, especially if they re-tool at the trade deadline. 

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Note: Questions may be paraphrased in order to group or aggregate similar submissions.

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