TORONTO, ON - DECEMBER 29: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander #2 of the Oklahoma City Thunder is congratulated ... [+]
The Oklahoma City Thunder are without a true superstar for the first time in their short history. While few teams have success without a scorer averaging more than 20 points per game, Oklahoma City is doing just fine.
In previous seasons, teams were able to plan defensively for the top-heavy Thunder who received a large portion of their offensive production from guys like Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Kevin Durant. Now, Oklahoma City truly has five different players who could be the primary scorer on any different night. In fact, the Thunder have four players averaging over 16.5 points per contest.
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 19.8
- Dennis Schroder: 18.4
- Danilo Gallinari: 18.0
- Chris Paul: 16.6
On top of these four players, Steven Adams is having a down season offensively but still is extremely capable of scoring 20 points on nights where Oklahoma City attacks the interior defense. On the season, Adams is averaging 11.6 points on only 8.1 field goal attempts per game. He has only had seven games all year with double digit field goal attempts, but has the capability and efficiency scoring 20+ when given the opportunity.
With five players who are a threat to score 20 points, opposing defenses struggle to game plan against Oklahoma City. Most teams have one or two lockdown defenders who can look to slow down the top scorers on opposing teams, but very few teams have five of these types of defenders. Due to this, the Thunder always have a player with an inferior defender to attack throughout games.
This balanced attack has resulted in only two games all season in which Oklahoma City did not have a 20+ point scorer. Among the top four scorers on the roster, all have had breakout games throughout the season scoring 28+ points in a contest at least once.
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 32 points (3 times)
- Schroder: 31 points (twice)
- Chris Paul: 30 points (twice)
- Danilo Gallinari: 28 points (once)
Overall, the Oklahoma City Thunder have averaged 108.3 points per game this season. Gilgeous-Alexander, Schroder, Gallinari, and Paul each produce at least 15 percent of the team’s points. This is the first time in franchise history in which this has been the case, showing just how special this balanced scoring attack has been.
With Steven Adams averaging double figures in the scoring department, this is only the fourth team in Thunder history that has five players averaging double-digit points per contest. This is also the only team in Thunder history without a 20+ point scorer. Perhaps not having a ball-dominant superstar in Billy Donovan’s system is best. While their ceiling may not be as high as it has in the past, this Oklahoma City Thunder team is one of the most balanced in the franchise’s history.
