NBA Power Rankings, Week 10: The Thunder Aren’t Fading Away

The Oklahoma City Thunder have gone from one of the best stories of the young NBA season to a full-fledged threat in the Western Conference. Their recent run of wins since Christmas has sent a clear message that they are capable of not only hanging with but beating up on the best teams in the league, taking down the Timberwolves, Nuggets, and Celtics in succession — with the wins over Minnesota and Denver being by 20+ points each.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has a strong case for being the MVP favorite as we start 2024, as the Thunder point guard is averaging 31.4 points, 6.4 assists, 5.7 rebounds, and 2.6 steals per game with a 64.5 true shooting percentage. His performance against the Celtics on Tuesday night was emblematic of the continued growth of his game, and how he’s at the point where he can seemingly get to his spots and get his shot off at will.

Gilgeous-Alexander plays at his own pace and with a unique rhythm that seems to bother defenders, as he moves off-beat compared to most players but is always on balance. His style may not be the most aesthetically pleasing, but it’s unbelievably effective and because he has become so comfortable and confident in playing his game. The Celtics tried everything they could to slow him down, sending various combinations of size, length, and speed at him, but SGA was undeterred, pulling up over smaller defenders (or bigger ones who sagged off) and driving by those that tried to crowd him with his long strides.

While Gilgeous-Alexander is the engine that makes the Thunder go, he has an unbelievably well put together supporting cast around him. OKC is the best shooting team in the NBA by a good margin, knocking down 39.3 percent of their threes as a team — and that’s with SGA in a down year at 33 percent from three. Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Luguentz Dort, Cason Wallace, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, and Kenrich Williams are all shooting better than 40 percent from deep. Holmgren, in his redshirt rookie year, has been dynamic on both ends of the floor, serving as the rim deterrent they were missing a year ago on defense (2.7 blocks per game), while giving them spacing beyond the arc and spacing above the rim when he rolls to the hoop. Jalen Williams continues to blossom into a terrific No. 2 on the wing alongside SGA on offense, while wreaking havoc on defense with his length — something the Thunder have in spades across the roster.

They have taken their success from last year and built on it, playing with a tremendous confidence and belief that they belong with the NBA’s best. Oklahoma City boasts top-6 rankings in both offensive and defensive rating, and are allowing the lowest field goal percentage to opponents in the NBA this season. As a team they don’t shy away from big games or big moments, and they have a superstar who is the best player on the court most nights and thrives in late game situations. That’s a recipe for success, and while there’s still a long way to go this season and plenty to prove once the postseason arrives, the Thunder will believe they’re ready for a deep run even if questions persist from the outside.

Where do the Thunder feature in this week’s DIME Power Rankings (back after a week off due to holiday travel disasters)? Let’s find out…

TIER I: The Contenders

1. Oklahoma City Thunder (23-9, Last week: 4)
2. Boston Celtics (26-7, Last week: 2)
3. Minnesota Timberwolves (24-8, Last week: 1)
4. Milwaukee Bucks (24-9, Last week: 3)
5. Philadelphia 76ers (23-10, Last week: 5)
6. Denver Nuggets (24-11, Last week: 6)
7. Los Angeles Clippers (20-12, Last week: 7)

At this point I think we can comfortably trim the contenders list down to this top 7. With wins over the Minnesota, Boston, and Denver since Christmas, I couldn’t help but move the Thunder up into the top spot. Boston still looks fantastic and keeps hold of the No. 2 slot, with their lone recent blemish being the loss to OKC. The Timberwolves have stumbled a bit of late, but still hold the West’s best record. I do think we’re going to learn a lot about this team over the coming weeks as I’m interested to see how they respond to a drop in their level and how quickly they can get things back on track. The Bucks aren’t a team I think anyone believes is playing to their full potential (or trusts to make a deep playoff run), but they just keep beating the teams they’re supposed to and that’s how you get a high seed out of the regular season. Philly, unsurprisingly, looks better with Joel Embiid than they do without him, but were able to tread water thanks to Tyrese Maxey. Denver just keeps winning even with Aaron Gordon out and while they’d rather him be playing, it might help them some down the road getting more burn for their reserve bigs. The Clippers, likewise, keep humming along, with James Harden playing incredibly well still and Kawhi Leonard back in the fold.

TIER II: Playoff Hopefuls

8. New Orleans Pelicans (20-14, Last week: 13)
9. Sacramento Kings (19-13, Last week: 9)
10. Miami Heat (19-14, Last week: 15)
11. Phoenix Suns (18-15, Last week: 18)
12. Indiana Pacers (18-14, Last week: 19)
13. Orlando Magic (19-14, Last week: 8)
14. Dallas Mavericks (19-15, Last week: 10)
15. New York Knicks (18-15, Last week: 11)
16. Cleveland Cavaliers (18-15, Last week: 12)
17. Houston Rockets (16-15, Last week: 16)

From there we move to the playoff hopefuls, which is a group of good teams that are simply more volatile (and less trustworthy) than the tier above. There’s a really high level all of these teams can tap into, but doing so consistently has been an issue for all of them. Right now the Pelicans, Heat, Suns, and Pacers are the hot teams of this group, with the others stalling out and hitting rough patches. This group has been shuffling between these positions all year and I expect that to continue as they each take turns getting hot and then cooling off.

TIER III: Teams In An Identity Crisis

18. Golden State Warriors (16-17, Last week: 17)
19. Los Angeles Lakers (17-17, Last week: 14)

Here we have two teams that expect to compete for championships, but right now they cannot figure out what they are supposed to be. Both fan bases are fed up with the head coach for starting lineup and rotation choices, they each have stars still playing at an incredibly high level, but lacking the support needed to really get in the hunt for one of those top-6 seeds. As such, the next month is going to feature both teams in trade rumors as neither is particularly happy with their roster right now, but I don’t think there’s a clear and obvious move that fixes everything for either — and that’s the difficulty these front offices face in righting the ship.

TIER IV: Trade Rumor Fodder

20. Chicago Bulls (15-20, Last week: 21)
21. Utah Jazz (15-19, Last week: 24)
22. Brooklyn Nets (15-19, Last week: 20)
23. Memphis Grizzlies (11-22, Last week: 25)
24. Atlanta Hawks (13-19, Last week: 22)
25. Toronto Raptors (13-20, Last week: 23)

The Raptors finally pulled the trigger on a deal, sending OG Anunoby to New York, and the early returns on that trade were positive as they got a win Sunday with RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley both having solid debuts. That said, that came a game after a shorthanded Toronto squad lost to Detroit, allowing the Pistons to snap a 28-game losing streak, so there’s still work to be done. With Anunoby moved, attention shifts to Pascal Siakam’s future in Toronto, Zach LaVine’s status in Chicago (he’s supposed to return to the floor soon), and what the rest of these teams that have fallen out of the playoff race in this tier will do to try to at least capture a Play-In spot. Memphis joins this group now with Ja Morant back and leading them to some wins, but the Grizzlies also will be a team to watch at the deadline, as they still probably need some frontcourt help and will have to determine if this is a season worth pushing chips in on even after their dreadful start.

TIER V: Tank Generals

26. Portland Trail Blazers (9-23, Last week: 26)
27. Charlotte Hornets (8-24, Last week: 27)
28. Washington Wizards (6-26, Last week: 28)
29. San Antonio Spurs (5-28, Last week: 29)
30. Detroit Pistons (3-30, Last week: 30)

We’re expanding this tier to include the Blazers and Hornets because their work deserves inclusion here at this point. There are undoubtedly levels to the tanking business this year, as no one is doing it like the Pistons (who I don’t think are even doing it purposefully, which makes it all the more impressive). Detroit did finally get a win, but went right back to getting smoked by the Rockets in their next outing. San Antonio and Washington also won games, but both still maintain a solid hold on sharing the best odds for the top pick in the lottery.