Assessing Thunder’s Importance in Increasing Perimeter Shooting Volume

For the Oklahoma City Thunder offense to be successful, the team's best players must be able to effectively penetrate the zone and apply pressure to the basket. In fact, Oklahoma City's offensive engine Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's game is based on advancing the ball and deciding whether to score at the basket, reach his positions in the midcourt, or get defensive help and pass to an open teammate.

Even outside of Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder have several other outstanding scorers who are most effective when they either drive to the basket or break away and find space for an easy attack as an enforcer. For this to work, optimal space is a necessity, requiring good long-range shooters who can draw attention and keep defenders on their toes up to the 3-point line.

The opposite is also true, as Oklahoma City's drivers break down the defense, creating more open space on the perimeter. The Thunder's offense is balanced and extremely difficult to defend because of this dynamic.

The Thunder finished the most recent regular season as the best team in three-point shooting, thanks in large part to the aforementioned dynamic. Oklahoma City converted 38.9% of its 34.2 attempts from beyond the three-point line per game, a league-best.

Even then, the Thunder were in the bottom half of the league in three-point shooting. In the upcoming 2024-25 season, it will be important to increase the number of three-pointers, especially in a league where three-pointers play a major role. Fortunately for OKC, the team is set up to do just that while maintaining high efficiency from distance.

If we evaluate Thunder players with full-time NBA contracts this season — excluding rookies who didn't play in the NBA last season — to estimate what long-range shooting might look like, Oklahoma City has 12 players with data from last season that we can analyze. Almost every one of those players was a good 3-point shooter, which speaks to the depth of this roster's long-range ability.

It's worth noting that attempts per game don't tell the whole story, especially considering not every player is on the court every night and the number of attempts for individual players fluctuates throughout the season. But in a vacuum, Oklahoma City has a real chance to once again become the league's best three-point team while also attempting more. Those 12 players alone were responsible for 36.3 attempts from beyond the arc last season, which would have put them in the NBA's top 10.

This will be extremely important, especially in the playoffs. It will be even harder to score points in the postseason, so being able to make threes and open up lanes for drivers like Gilgeous-Alexander will make a huge difference. In OKC's recent playoff run, the perimeter was a problem at times, and even a single player struggling from deep on a given night could completely mess up the flow of the offense.

With the Thunder entering the 2024-25 season as contenders, three-point shooting should once again be a strength, but increasing the number of attempts year-over-year could really take this team to new levels.