The Other 50% Of The OKC Thunder Championship Equation That The NBA Forgets

The Other 50% Of The OKC Thunder Championship Equation That The NBA Forgets

The 2025 OKC Thunder didn’t just beat teams. They actually embarrassed opponents with a record- setting 12.87 average margin of victory, which is the highest by any team in NBA history, as well as a 12.8 net rating, which is also the second best ever recorded by any NBA roster. Well, the chunk of the team’s success is usually credited to their suffocating brand of defense, and rightfully so. In today’s NBA, which was basically built for scoring explosions, the Thunder defended like it was the ’90s. OKC put up a league best 106.6 defensive rating while the second best defensive team, the Orlando Magic, put up a 109.1 defensive rating. Notably, that gap is actually the biggest between a number one and number two ranked defense that the NBA has seen over the last 25 years. But the thing is, their defense is just one part of the equation. And today, I’d like to talk more about OKC’s equally elite offense. They obviously have the scoring champ and one of the most efficient bucket getters in the NBA today in Shay Gil’s Alexander, but there’s much more to the Thunder scoring and how they use the concepts of speed and space to their advantage on their way to winning an NBA title, which deserves much more attention. So, what’s good everyone? It’s Real Balls here and in this video, let’s break down what actually offensively fueled OKC’s historic season. How did the team’s roster construction unlock it? And what can the rest of the NBA learn from OKC’s offensive blueprint? [Music] First, let’s look into the structural foundations of OKC’s elite offense. The Thunder have actually built a complete offensive ecosystem which combines transition aggression with halfcourt execution. And this offensive structure resulted in a 119.2 offensive rating last season, which was the third best in the NBA. Well, at its core, OKC’s offensive system follows a three-step hierarchy. First, hunt for high percentage shots in transition. But if transition fails, then in the half court, attack the rim with drives and utilize offball movement. And lastly, if drive tall, isolate Shay or Jdub and let them create advantageous situations. First, let’s talk about how OKC use their transition attack as a strategic advantage. Basically, the Thunder have a young roster who gets a ton of defensive stops and who can consistently push the pace with the ball. And they use that to their advantage by empowering ball handlers to run and attack before defenses are even set while simultaneously having shooters spread all over the floor. And this has forced defenses into lose-lose situations. Collapse on OKC’s ball handlers and you’re allowing them to make kick outs to open shooters. Notably, OKC scored 1.22 points per possession on catch and shoots last season, which is the best in the NBA. But then if defenders choose to stay home on shooters, they’re basically conceding easy rim attacks from OKC’s ball handlers. In this possession, after getting the steal, the Thunder immediately get the ball to Shay to start the attack in early offense. Right here, Minnesota’s defense is all spread across the floor, leaving Alexander Walker alone in the middle to pick up Shay. By the time Sheay attacks left, Randall realizes he has the stunt, but it’s already too late as Shay’s already drawn contact with all the space he needs to score on the end one. Then here after grabbing the rebound, Wallace immediately finds Sheay who quickly surveys the floor while the defense has yet to be set. Right off the bat, Sheay draws the attention of Bridges and Hart in the middle of the floor while Cat who’s on the strong side dives inside the arc. This leaves Aaron Wiggins wide open on the wing, basically left alone by the defense as he drains the transition three-pointer. It’s just that the value of transition as part of a winning offense can be denied anymore, especially in today’s game. Cuz looking at it, last season, NBA teams leaguewide transition offense produced a 124 offensive rating on average. That is a 9-point increase from the leaguewide 115 offensive rating produced by teams out of average offense. And to put things into context, last season, OKC produced 1.17 points per transition possession, which is the fourth most efficient mark in the entire league. And they also combined that with a 19.3 transition frequency, which is also the 10th highest mark in the NBA. So basically the Thunder had a tools to thrive in today’s fast-paced game and they actually developed a system to weaponize it. But then OKC’s offense wasn’t just fueled by transition alone as when things slowed down. The Thunder also thrive in the half court by using a strong driving infrastructure. In half court situations, OKC deployed the NBA’s most devastating driving attack. Led by the NBA’s most vicious driver in SGA last season, OKC averaged the second most drives per game in the league. But they didn’t just depend on ISO ball. Instead, they deployed systematic advantage creation. Just like in transition, overload against OKC’s drivers and their shooters made you pay. But there’s also the threat of their cutters exploiting openings for easy shots around the rim. As OKC also ranks six in the league in terms of points per possession scored out of cuts to the basket. But then again, if defenders choose to stay home and shooters, they’re allowing OKC drivers some easy looks at the basket. The Thunder actually shot 67% within 5 ft of the rim last season, which was also the best mark in the entire league. Basically, constant pressure from OKC drivers forced defenses into making constant mistakes simply because more rim attacks forced more defensive reactions, and more defensive reactions meant more defensive breakdowns from opponents. But how specifically does OKC use that to their advantage? Well, off every drive, OKC’s floor spacers use different ways to counter opponents defensive reactions. First, they use lifts and drifts, wherein Thunder players constantly rotate from the corners to the wing or vice versa to make dishing out passes much easier for OKC’s main ball handlers. Second, they also use some 45 cuts or back door cuts, wherein offball players simply take advantage of open lanes to punish ball watching defenders. For defender, this is one of the benefits of having a roster filled with multiple playmakers who can make quick decisions as well as guys who can contribute without necessarily having the ball in their hands. Here you can see JDub isolating on the corner while the Jazz are in his own. JDub goes into his drive and pulls the attention of the entire defense. While on the wing, Caruso takes advantage by making the quick 45 cut right across two defenders as Jdub finds him for the easy finish around the basket. Here the offense starts with Chat feeding AJ Mitchell off the handoff. Mitchell takes advantage as he attacks the switch which then triggers the slight rotation from the lowman defender. This leaves Dort with an open cutting lane on the baseline as he gets the easy bucket off Mitchell’s pass. This time Sheay runs a pick and roll action with iHeart. The defense chooses to hedge on Sheay which then forces the corner defender to tag iheart. This leaves Kase Wallace free to relocate from the corners to the wing. And while everyone is focused on Shay in the paint, Wallace becomes a last second passing outlet as he drains the wide open three-pointer against the late contest. As a result of OKC’s efficient halfcourt play last season, they produced the NBA’s lowest turnover rate as well as the league’s best assist to turnover ratio. This overall synergy from OKC’s roster from their stars down to their role players have also resulted in an NBA best 56.2 player impact estimate, which is a metric that quantifies a player’s overall contribution to their team by calculating the percentage of game events that they impact. This is proof of OKC having zero weak links on their roster and how they are able to use maximal roster impact to make every drive a nightmare to guard for opponents. But then if actually needed, OKC can also strategically use isolation and mismatch hunting to score. If defenses somehow got to slow down OKC’s drive heavy attack, their reward was unleashing Shay Gilas Alexander, one of the best shot creators in basketball today and who last season was the most efficient isolation scorer in the NBA among all players to attempt more than five shots per game in isolation. Well, OKC utilizes Shay in a ton of different ways, ranging from walk up isolations to elbow catches to post-ups, but probably the most dynamic way OKC deploys him is out of guard to guard screen situations, which they use to hunt for favorable matchups. In these guardtoguard screen actions, the screener typically goes or pretend to set a screen for Shay to confuse defenders and to make communicating for them harder. This is so effective because defenders can either switch wherein Shay can simply cook whenever he gets a mismatch or the defense can send extra help which then allows Shay to find someone else open on the floor. One miscue is all that it takes for the defense and it’s either Shay is already cooking around the paint or his screener is already positioned for a wideopen catch and shoot jumper. Here you can see Shay isolated against a strong defender in Ryan Dunn. Joe quickly sets the go screen which now forces Taius Jones on the switch while Dunn is now pulled away from the ball because of Joe’s presence on the wing. From here, Shay’s got all the space he needs to cook the smaller defender as he creates that tough step back jumper. Again, here with Shay on the ball, you can see JDub seemingly approaching to set a screen. Sheay uses the diversion to begin his attack. And as you can see, one small paint rotation is all that it takes for someone to be open on the corners. So Sheay makes the kick out pass and two defenders try to close out, but Dort’s already got too much space as he drains the three-pointer. Sheay is able to thrive in these actions because he’s just so talented that he needs no manufactured advantage to score or to create looks for teammates. And for OKC’s opponents, this is basically unscoutable offense. The scary thing for opponents is JDub is also seemingly riding that same developmental trajectory in terms of being a shot creator. Not to mention the fact that even now the Thunder are already diversifying their offense by utilizing big man Isaiah Hardenstein as a playmaking hub through the elbows, through handoffs or out of short roll situations. Last season, Hardenstein registered the 17.3% assist rate, which ranked in the 82nd percentile among all centers in the NBA. His advanced vision and passing ability for a big man basically fuels easy offense for the Thunder as their guards are able to cut aggressively through Iheart’s reads. This secondary layer of advantage basketball further enhances OKC’s ability to create easy efficient shots even when Shay or Jdo are not on the floor as they can run offense orchestrated through Hardenstein in a Nicola Yokic or an Alparent Shenon-like manner. In this play, you can see IHeart acting as the playmaking hub right at the top of the key where he initially tries to run a handoff for Wiggins. Fox tries to deny the action but iHeart reads the situation well. Wiggins makes the adjustment and iHeart sets him up with a laser bounce pass for the easy slam. This time, iHeart sets the ball screen for Shay and he proceeds to make the short roll. Now with two players on Shay, iHeart uses OKC’s four-on-3 advantage to find a gap in the defense and before someone else can make a rotation, iHeart makes the quick bounce past the Dort in the paint for the easy finish. Quantitatively, Hardenstein’s impact is staggering as the 119.8 8 offensive rating he registered last season actually leads all nonsga Thunder players. Which is why overall it’s not surprising that OKC’s most offensively productive fiveman lineup which had a 187 and a half offensive rating as well as their best nonSGA fiveman unit which had a 155 offensive rating both included Hardenstein. Basically, this stylistic dilemma shifting from Sha’s rim attacks to Hardenstein’s elbow playmaking makes scouting OKC much more complex as opponents must simultaneously prepare for Shay’s dribble drive isolation game along with iHeart’s hub initiated offense. To sum it all up, the Thunder are starting to pioneer a shift in NBA offensive philosophy. They use transition as a foundational weapon by converting defensive stops into efficient shots during early offense. But at the same time in the half court they also use systematic driving as well as efficient secondary actions through cuts and catch and shoot looks. More than that, the Thunder constructed roster continuity around elite drivers such as Shay and JDub. But they also built multi-layered actions which enabled bench units to sustain elite efficiency even without their stars on the floor. But what can the NBA actually learn from the Thunder’s offensive blueprint? First off, the Thunder demonstrated that for elite offenses, easy shot generation and efficiency are non-negotiable for winning. The Thunder’s 41.3% catch and chew three-point percentage shows that spacing isn’t just theoretical, but it’s actually proven to work. Also, the Thunder have prioritized attacking in early offense, not just for pace, but because of its plus 9 advantage over average offense. Second, OKC emphasized the importance of roster construction. The fact that the Thunder featured nine players on the roster with at least a plus two player impact estimate highlights the idea that championship offenses require a lot of contributors capable of creating advantages on the floor. Lastly, while analytics prioritizes system play, OKC still validates the importance of having elite isolation scoring, especially in the playoffs. Think of Shay, Jason Tatum, Nicolay Jokic, Steph Curry, and Giannis. When looking at recent NBA champions, you see that this might actually be the biggest prerequisite for winning it all. But the biggest question is, can the rest of the NBA actually do something to top or even replicate OKC’s offensive blueprint? Feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments section below. And if you did enjoy this video, please do consider subscribing to the channel as well. Again, this has been Real Balls, and I’ll see you on the next one. Peace.

#NBA #OKCThunder #NBAhighlights #basketball #LukaDoncic

The OKC Thunder are the new NBA champions and the rest of the league are trying to understand the formula that led to the Thunder era. Sam Presti has constructed one of the best rosters in NBA history with his rebuild that has produced MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Lu Dort, Alex Caruso, Isaiah Hartenstein, Cason Wallace, Aaron Wiggins and a whole core of great two-way players. While the OKC Thunder just had one of the most dominant seasons in NBA history with the help of their elite defense, their offense is also something that needs to be talked about. The Thunder are also building an elite system of offense that combines elite half court play and transition aggression, similar to how Steph Curry and the Warriors, Tim Duncan and the Spurs or Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets won championships with their own offensive systems.

Can the rest of the NBA actually decode the OKC Thunder’s championship blueprint? Will teams like the Houston Rockets with Kevin Durant, the Lakers with LeBron James and Luka Doncic, the Nuggets with Nikola Jokic, the Timberwolves and Anthony Edwards or the Spurs with Victor Wembanyama be able to replicate OKC and their revolutionary offense and even their all-time great defense?

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