After handing the Boston Celtics a rare loss, the Oklahoma City Thunder received plenty of praise among national media pundits for their dominating season.
The Thunder are 23-10, the second-best record in the Western Conference. During a recent tough stretch of games, OKC came out victorious in most contests.
The Thunder’s surprising season has been led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is playing like an MVP candidate. The young pair of Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams create a promising trio in OKC.
As the Thunder bust open a contention window, national pundits such as ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith will be forced to talk about them. This was evident in Wednesday’s “First Take” episode, during which he issued an apology for sleeping on the Thunder.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I just need to sit here and apologize. For what? I have not paid enough attention to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
They got my attention now. They are (23-10), they are in second place in the West, a top-two seed in the Western Conference, one game behind Minnesota.
This brother Shai Gilgoeus-Alexander is a superstar. This brother is special. … That’s one part of the story. No. 2, they probably got the Rookie of the Year in Chet Holmgren. …
No. 3, look at what they’ve done. … They beat the defending champions Nuggets twice. They snapped the Clippers’ nine-game winning streak. They beat the West-leading Minnesota Timberwolves, and, oh by the way, they just beat who most of us recognize as the best team in basketball in the Boston Celtics.
This is what they’ve been doing. We need to stand up and pay attention to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Young thoroughbreds led by a brother that is busting everybody’s (butt).
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a special special brother. We got some young stars in this league. He is one of them. Special, special.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, I just need to sit here and apologize. For what? I have no paid enough attention to the Oklahoma City Thunder; they’ve got my attention now.”
Welcome to the show 🫡 @stephenasmith https://t.co/QTjL0r6OID pic.twitter.com/TcJloTyGra
— Topic: Thunder Podcast (@OKCTopicThunder) January 3, 2024
As the Thunder enter the upper echelon of teams, expect national media coverage to become the standard for OKC once again. The NBA has taken notice of what’s brewing in OKC. It scheduled an additional national television game for them the Thunder.
The Thunder have been great all season long, but it appears beating arguably the championship favorite has helped conventional wisdom finally catch up to them.
