Why OKC have been this season’s surprise team.

Before every season NBA analysts all take their guesses on how well each team will do given their current circumstances. Has a team acquired some new players that fit well into the current squad? Is this an inexperienced roster lacking in veteran leadership? Will this team of young players really start to gel?

These are the types of questions the analysts will be asking in order to come up with their projected wins/losses for each team. ESPN asked the Sports Analytics Club Program what their projections were and they had OKC at 13th in the Western Conference with a record of 33-49.

You can see how they arrived at this prediction; OKC had just traded away Russell Westbrook for soon-to-be 35-year-old Chris Paul plus some extras and then traded Paul George to the Clippers for Danilo Gallinari, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a host of draft picks.

Any team that has just traded away to All-NBA players usually goes into tanking mode, frees up cap-space from expiring contracts and hopes to get a high pick in this following NBA draft.

Oh man, how wrong were we all?

Currently, as things stand OKC are 5th in the West and have a record of 40-24. They have completely thrown off any expectation of them performing poorly and it’s great to see. Where did this success come from? What is it about their squad that has them consistently winning games? Here are my top reasons why OKC has done so well this season.

Chris Paul

I thought we had sadly seen the end of Chris Paul. After a decade of dominating at the point-guard position, it seemed as though his career was winding down. Last season he only averaged 15.6 points a game for the Rockets on just 41.9% from the floor. He looked disinterested and tired.

The trade to OKC definitely refocused him. Players as big as Chris Paul do not like getting traded unless they’ve asked for it. It can easily make players feel more like an asset rather than an athlete when franchises ‘deal’ them to other teams. For CP3, the trade would have signaled to him that the NBA no longer thinks he’s a top-tier player a.k.a a player that doesn’t get traded unless he wants to.

CP3 has always been extremely competitive, he is now playing with a chip on his shoulder. He has something to prove again, just like when he was a rookie/sophomore. He is the leader of this team and in the blaze of his re-ignited fire, they are burning teams left, right and center.

LA Clipper ‘Rejects’

The two players OKC received from the Clippers in exchange for Paul George were Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Danilo Gallinari. These two had decent seasons in LA last year with SGA averaging 10.8 points on 47.6% from the field and Gallinari averaging 19.8 points from 46.3% from the field and 43.3% from 3-point land.

This season Gallinari again has been highly effective, averaging 19.2 points and 41% from beyond the arc. Good 3-point shooters are unbelievably valuable to an NBA team as they space the floor, meaning more chances for easy points at the rim.

Gilgeous-Alexander has also pressed on very nicely in his second season. He is OKC’s top scorer so far, averaging 19.3 PPG from 47.3% from the floor. If he can up his 3-point shooting from around 35% to roughly 39%-40% then he could easily make several All-Star games this decade. He is very talented and still only 21 years old.

Underdog Mentality

Most teams have a narrative that defines their season. For the LA Lakers, it’s “we need a championship with LeBron”. For the Milwaukee Bucks, it’s “we have the MVP, but can Giannis lead us to a title as well?” For the OKC, their narrative is definitely “screw everyone, we’ll prove them wrong”.

Narratives are very powerful when harnassed well. If you can get your team to buy into a common message, like being an underdog for a season, you can get a great response. Every game OKC has a common goal of proving everyone wrong. They play hard, they play together and there are no egos to get in the way of success. Their interests are all aligned towards taking each game as it comes and accepting that whilst they may not be as talented as other teams, they will definitely be the hardest workers.

Hard work beats talent where talent fails to work hard. I expect OKC to make some noise in the Playoffs. Any team that comes up against them had best be wary.