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After investing nearly three seasons into a rebuild, the OKC Thunder are up and running with the trio of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams. The trio came up big again during the team's 129-120 home win over the New York Knicks on Wednesday's second night of a back-to-back.
Gilegous-Alexander had 36 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, two steals and blocks on 56.5% shooting. Williams matched SGA's points tally, which ended up being a career night for him. He missed only four of his 17 shots while hitting all five 3s. ROY favorite Holmgren tallied 22 points, five rebounds and four blocks while shooting 64.3%.
The Thunder's young core has guided the team to a 20-9 record, good for second in the West. Their exploits have left OKC fans on Reddit reminiscing about their early 2010s core of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
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"This is Deja Vu, OKC had 3 young superstars too," one fan wrote.
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More reactions followed:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren's ceiling could be higher than former Thunder trio
The OKC Thunder have a roster at their hands that could form a dynasty. No other team in the league has a young group with prospects like them. The Thunder have taken three full seasons to get to this point, and they have seemingly made all the right moves, building majority of this team through the draft.
They secured the ideal piece in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the Paul George deal to the Clippers in 2019, around whom they could build a team. Adding complementary pieces like Lu Dort, Josh Giddey, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren is seemingly a masterstroke by Sam Presti and the front office.
The depth and balance the team has on both ends with this core that has most players 25 or younger could see them eclipse the ceiling OKC had during the KD-Harden-Russ era. As good as each player turned out to be, that big three lacked the two-way edge the current core has.
Their skill sets also fit well. All three players are good on and off the ball, while playing alongside a true point guard like Josh Giddey. Considering Williams is only in his second season and Holmgren in his rookie year, one can only imagine the leap these players could make as they gain more experience.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander displayed that effortlessly over the past two years, turning into an MVP-caliber player. It's too early to call Chet and Wiliams' prospects as potential MVPs, but the All-Star nominations in a year or two are certainly on the cards with how they are playing.
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