{"id":596895,"date":"2026-02-11T15:20:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T15:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/596895\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T15:20:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T15:20:22","slug":"shai-gilgeous-alexanders-absence-is-what-thunder-desperately-needed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/596895\/","title":{"rendered":"Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s absence is what Thunder desperately needed"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s officially been a week since Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played his last game for the OKC Thunder before being shelved with an abdominal injury.<\/p>\n

Since then, Mark Daigneault’s squad has gone 1-2, including a fourth loss to the rival Spurs.<\/p>\n

Their recent record may not be ideal, but those who have looked beyond the box score have seen this team take immense strides forward.<\/p>\n

Before SGA’s injury, the Thunder had begun to struggle to overcome a disheartening stereotype. Their superstar’s nightly 30-point games had become the only reliable part<\/a> of their offense, thus making them severely one-dimensional.<\/p>\n

In his absence, the Thunder’s offense has finally begun to diversify.<\/p>\n

The three-game stint has featured three different leading scorers, including 20-plus-point performances from six different players.<\/p>\n

The Thunder have negated the one advantage held by competitors<\/p>\n

It wasn’t long ago that many had begun to question OKC’s supremacy in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons praised the Denver Nuggets<\/a> for discovering their elite depth in the absence of star center Nikola Jokic.<\/p>\n

Shaquille O’Neal just recently made the bold prediction<\/a> that San Antonio would topple the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals.<\/p>\n

Gilgeous-Alexander’s sabbatical has given Thunder role players an opportunity to find their ceilings, and some have taken full advantage.<\/p>\n

Isaiah Joe, in particular, has come alive in recent days. Over his past two games, he has been shooting 50.0 percent from three and has scored 21 and 19 points off the bench.<\/p>\n

Jaylin Williams has found his stroke as well, as he’s shot 47.4 percent from deep and has recorded two double-digit efforts over his last three matches, including a 24-point surge against San Antonio.<\/p>\n

Most notably, Cason Wallace has begun to come into his own on the offensive side of the basketball.<\/p>\n

Having already established himself as one of the league’s premier defensive disruptors, Wallace has shown a recent offensive ceiling that many thought was out of the question in year three of his career.<\/p>\n

The former Kentucky star has come alive in February<\/a>, averaging 16.0 points on 53.2 percent shooting, while also dishing out 4.0 assists per game.<\/p>\n

This newfound depth is something OKC hasn’t had all year, and, when SGA returns, it will be a much-needed luxury.<\/p>\n

When teams like the Spurs, Nuggets, and Wolves come knocking in the playoffs, Loud City will likely need every man on the roster to pitch in if they want to defend their title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s officially been a week since Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played his last game for the OKC Thunder before being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":596896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3783],"tags":[7,6,310,475,179,3966,3965,312],"class_list":["post-596895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-basketball","tag-nba","tag-oklahoma","tag-oklahoma-city","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-oklahomacity","tag-oklahomacitythunder","tag-thunder"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116052677360200385","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}