Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the Thunder’s bench last night
Me when I’m ten minutes into watching an NBA game and there has already been five ad breaks.
At least we got some gambling ads in between those other ads
My favourite is when they minimize the game into the corner to show us more gambling ads during the middle of action
And when free throws are happening the zoom out to the ad. I used to love RedZone because it somewhat resembled continuous action like soccer. Now they’ve been corrupted too.
Is that a thing? I always watch day after in UK on league pass and have not come across that
Thank god. I almost forgot sports gambling was a thing
Sports predicting*
Yes, they’ve taught me sports gambling is fun, I’m almost certain to win, and there’s absolutely no downside.
“Some”
Gambling add fans have been eating good for a couple of seasons
“Deposit just 99 cents to DraftKings and we’ll fucking give you $500 to gamble with! Just start gambling now! Just a lil taste!!!”
This is the scary part. They really want to trick people into trying it. It’s so bad and makes me worried for young people.
This WAS the scary part. Now the scary part is that this worked and we just have statistics about how well it worked
when you have professional gamblers that have made careers and fortunes off of it warning against the targeting of people and how predatory it is… you know it’s a problem.
I wonder if credit card “churners” have a take on this. \(500 credit, make balanced bets so that you still end up with at least \)400 and then cash out.
I’m in control. I can stop whenever I want to.
I just don’t want to yet….
I just turn the volume down and look away. The corporations may not care/notice, but it makes me feel like I’m sticking it to them lol.
I like to mute the TV when ads come. I’ve even come to a point where I wanted an app that can automatically mute my TV whenever ads start. Sadly, this app does not exist.
There’s a Firefox browser plugin that’ll cover the screen with a YouTube video/playlist of your choice when a certain pixel changes color (e.g. part of the scorebug). Didn’t work too well in my experience so I gave up on it, but at least some tried.
You’d think in the world of AI that there’d be a reliable method to auto-mute ads.
I find that normally the first half of the first quarter is basically ad free. It’s a really smooth viewing experience until like 6 minutes in. I think they try to draw you in
No doubt
Me when the last 2 minutes of regulation takes 30 minutes
The closest I get to watching live basketball is starting about 30-45 minutes late. I hate sitting through the gambling ads and all the other shit.
“Visit kalshi to see the odds on whether or not you would go three minutes or six minutes before boredom”-nba advertising
Me when I’m ten minutes into watching an NBA game and my team is already down 20
Me when watching in NBA league pass and its crashed 5 times in 30 minutes.
Worst is NBA League pass in PS5
me when I’m watching a lakers game and luka starts complaining for the 40th time for free throws
that would be your PS5 crashing the app, not the app itself
Last season, the app is more stable though. This season too many issues and crashing.
Me when we’re 15 minutes past the scheduled tip off time and still just seeing ads
7 TOs per team per game. 14 breaks. plus periods and halftime. a break every 3 minutes on average.
What platform? Was gunna watch spurs game last night but was only on league pass and ya F that.
Reminds me of Curry staring into the Abyss a bit
They want to make sure you don’t forget to gamble on the game
5 different betting apps no less too
Or team losing by 30 with no chance of a comeback.
And the ads are gambling ads
I got back into tge NBA at the end of last year after not caring/watching for about 20 years. Decided to support charlotte but after the initial hype phase i have turned to just watching the last quarter of games.
Way too many breaks during the game and tge way the modern game plays it feels like the last 10 minutes are all that matters.
Both teams in bonus 5 minutes into the quarter..
Mannn I make sure it gets recorded, mute my phone, jump in like 45-60 mins after tip and skip all that bullshit
Me but with SGA flopping
Me when I’m ten minutes into watching an OKC game and there has already been five Shai foul baits
See!?
I always said that without Jdub, Chet, Cason, Caruso, Dort, Isaiah Joe, and Wiggins that they wouldn’t be a championship team.
Lol it’s funny how now we talk about it like that. But then in MVP debates all people want to do is compare 1 player against another. To any true NBA fan you knew the thunder and Spurs were 7 deep. Spurs had 2 6moy candidates on the same team. OKC had 4 all defensive players … Then nuggets 2nd best player has made 1 all nba/all star team and no one else was close to an all defence/ all nba / all star but all we do here is compare first options to each other and ignore context
Yeah but have you considered Aaron flippin Gordon?
Denver fans are never letting go of those well deserved MVP wins by him huh
It’s insane, they want their guy to have 5 MVPs despite 1 ring and never breaking 60 wins in a season ever lol
5? They genuinely believed he should won 6 in a row from 22-26, its pathetic.
Name another 3x MVP with only 1 ring and never popped their 60 win cherry. As if Dirk and Hakeem had better supporting casts than Joker has had. Jokic got far more than his fair share, quit whining.
Great points my man. Did you consider comparing the competition between the eras and the parity in the league now or is that a bad idea? Average 3rd seed averaged 55 wins a game from 1990-1997 and the 8th seed averaged 40. From 2020-2026 the average 3rd seed averaged 50 wins and the 8th seed averaged 43.
You may as well bring up 1960s rebounding numbers and compare it to starting C’s today and say how much worse they are at basketball now.
But nah you’re probably right Jokic is just bad at basketball that’s why he hasn’t got 60 wins with a far weaker supporting cast than Spurs, OKC, Celtics
Lol brother, Cade and Detroit got 60 last season with their #2 being fucking Duren. Cavs got 64 the year before with Mitchell and Garland, neither is ever sniffing a MVP award. Phoenix got 64 with Book and old ass CP3. That’s just in this decade. It’s really not that hard or uncommon if you have top 5 Defense, which a Jokic team will never. Be glad your guy got 3 from the media’s obssession for round number triple-doubles and inflated offensive numbers in the league’s softest defensive ruleset era.
This, but unironically
Until Chet comes back dude might have to tap into his 06 Kobe lol. Honestly OKC should just have Shai shoot over double teams and crash the glass
The Thunder were a 40 win team even when Chet was red shirted in his rookie year. But they also had JDub back then so, SGA hasn’t had to play with this kind of supporting cast in a long time.
SGA’s 2nd greatest achievement is dragging that team 1 game away from the playoffs with no one above 6’9 and having 3 of the team’s best players be ball dominant dudes with subpar shooting
I miss Dort
That loss catapulted us to chet and dub tho.
Thunder have been +4.5 (25-26 season), +5.5 (24-25) and +0.5 (23-24) the last 3 years with him on the bench. He’s now going to see what Jokic and Curry been going through for the last decade when OKC will -5 to -10 with him on the bench. He’s going to have to play 36 mpg and carry the team for a bit
He’s averaged an efficient 30 ppg for the past 4 years, he’s always carried this team offensively
You make it sound like Jokic and Curry have spent a decade in the same situation he’s now in, but I don’t remember them missing three starters and one of their best bench players.
I’d say Mitchell’s about as good as Dub was that season.
Offensively for sure, but the size disadvantage is the issue here. There are no wings on the squad
Also to note, okc hadn’t won shit yet, people are circling okc cause they were the ones to beat, so teams are giving SGA the curry triple in the regular season, and hes passing out and no one can hit shit
He was throwing that shit up with three people on him.
He was shooting over triples yesterday
We’re playing 3 guard lineups to tap into offense bc we can’t defend rn, but the guards are shooting 20% from 3
I’m not sure what we can do
Shooting over triples?
Thunder fans are delulu
Go look at Twitter
SGA doesn’t have it in him. His game is about ridiculously high consistency. Consistency is great an all since it produces things like the 20+ streak, but that low variance is also why he didn’t even have his first 50 point game until 2025. His slow, deliberate play style picking apart defenses to find his spots works great for him, but it doesn’t lend itself to scaling up. If you want to score lots of points then you can’t just try to score from your spots. You need to score from all spots.
seen any games lately? he’s legitimately shooting over double and triple teams every possession
never been a problem for luka
Tbf there’s pretty much no one in the nba better at passing out of doubles than Luka his court mapping is pretty absurd.
Shai is still a very good passer though his teammates are also just shooting for dog shit.
After prepping for the ambition of another ship and winning b2b mvps, it’s gotta be hard to find the motivation to kill himself every night just to put up numbers. Like, what’s the point?
Yeah just exert yourself and play a physically punishing style in November when the games are less meaningful because your wingmen are all in the mash unit. Easy as pie
Pride?
Hating to lose?
Love of basketball?
What a fucked up question, for real.
It’s a fucked up question to ask why he would want to shot chuck?
I dunno. In this era, players seem a lot more cautious less willing to lay it all out for the sake of pride.
Hard to imagine him trying to drag this team to a play in and potentially injuring himself along the way. This season couldn’t have started worse for them.
Seriously.
“How could a player making almost a million per game find the motivation to put their whole effort into their job?”
Such a minimum wage mindset
He’s on track to be a billionaire with salary, endorsements, and investment. Why the fuck would he want to kill himself?
Damn, reading comprehension really is in the gutter.
that’s… not what HyperactivePandah is saying
I’m sure that last sentence is one of the many reasons you are not a professional athlete winning MVPs lol.
Creative flopping to circumvent the new rules, duh.
He’s not as good so he can’t do it
18-19 Harden type beat
Perhaps a hot take, but Shai doesn’t have 06 Kobe in him. Especially if they keep calling the push the defender off with your arm thing.
I don’t think 06 kobe would work in this era games are faster defender are better and more versatile 7800x3d 68
Are you a bot? Why did you randomly include a high end gaming cpu at the end of the post??
Just making sure
Autocorrect
Are you 12? 06 Kobe would have fucking torched any era.
Shooting 27 shots a game would simply not win in the modern nba
He didn’t even torch his own era that year, he blew a 3-1 lead.
It’s ok SGA.
Shoot it 30 times a game to entertain yourself please.
Thank you
Said it in the thread yesterday but he needs to go off like Harden did when the Rockets lost EG, Capela, and Cp3 for a pretty long stretch of games and averaged scored 30+ for 32 games straight. Legit backpacked that team. Didn’t win a chip and times were dark but I dont think I’ll ever forget watching that.
Averaged 30? I think you mean averaged at least 40 for that stretch. He was putting up otherworldly numbers. Absolutely was not sustainable for a playoff run but was fun as hell to watch
The 30 pt streak was 32 games. 40 pt streak was around like 12. Was wrong to use average in the first post.
In reality if he can carry this sorry ass team of leftovers to the playoffs it’ll certainly cement him as pretty decent at basketball
if he did that he would need to be pretty good at this basketball thing
Unironically.
Nobody expects anything from this roster, so he should try not to take the losses personally. Just try to have fun and be a good leader and entertainer.
That’s crazy. From the deepest roster in basketball and the team that has 2 teams that can suit up.
I wish people gave Kobe this grace when he was playing with smush Parker, Chris Mihm and radmonovic
”I wish people gave Kobe this grace when he was playing with smush Parker, Chris Mihm and radmonovic”
Me too.
Ignoring the fact that Kobe was indirectly responsible for the state of the 2005-2007 team by asking the FO to trade Shaq or risk losing him in Free Agency
Like he didnt have god on his team for almost a decade before that
Y’all are so unlucky rn, especially with the jdub injury.
Or he can just think about the $40,806,150 he will make just this year, plus endorsements. That would for sure put some hiccup in my giddy!
Giddeys on the Bulls now bro
Whoa, that’s Austin Reaves money
Through 6 games this year he’s got less free throws from non techs than a lot of players had individual games this season
Taking out techs I think he’s averaging 3 free throws a game on 23+ shots a game
That’s a horrific free throw rate
You think these guys watch Thunder games? lol they actively brag about how they don’t
That is bad. That’s like a normal Anthony Edwards game
Dr. Seuss rhyme incoming
This team isint even bad. It’s atrocious. we got “college legends” playing meaningful minutes and 70% of their salary cap isint playing
Dang I wonder what it’s like to have more than 70% of your salary cap not playing…
Imagine what it’s like when 100% of your cap isn’t playing
Right, this happens to a multiple teams every year. Warriors, Nuggets had it happen for a stretch last year.
They were literally one of the most injured teams last year. Way more than Den which you wouldn’t know if you listened to the media, who were actually above average in health. You just didn’t pay attention because they still managed to win.
And we get it all year, from like the 3rd game in the season on.
No they didnt
Something something Bay area substations.
Against Pheonix we had 115% of the salary cap not playing.
dumb hypothetical that never actually happens.
oh wait.
Oh no, poor Golden State fans
Its not that we struggled, were used to that. Its that we wasted out goats remaining years. Sucks to see steph carrying a gleague squad at 38.
Memphis is 6-0 with three college legends as its best players though
Not all college legends are created equal. For every Cam Boozer there’s like 5 Adam Morrisons
But that equals like .2 Zach Edeys
That had a pretty easy schedule to start the season
Is it actually 70%? if so that’s insane
It’s actually like 72%
What the fuck
something something they have no choice….
Holy shit
Put me in coach
72% of the salary cap that theyve already blown way past**
What’s the percentage of the second apron?
Well it’s 70% of the cap.
They are over the first apron. So it’s not 70% of their payroll.
Google tells me it’s about 55% of their payroll
Do you think the Kings have a chance to beat the Thunder? That’ll really put things into perspective.
they still have jaywill, ihart, kenrich, mccain, ajay. the roster isn’t nearly as bad as people are trying to make it seem.
Now what happens when those players need rest?
That’s the problem, when your second line becomes your first, who is second line?
OKC can’t just coast, all teams will be gunning for them hard and try to distance the playoff spots to push them way down.
most teams have a bad bench. funny to see OKC fans act so shocked about this as they’ve had actual starter-level players to bring off the bench
Seriously. This is like an average Celtics lineup last couple of years when one of the Jays rested.
SGA is supposed to be an MVP. If he can’t win games with this lineup, then Tatum really needs to start getting way more support.
Those guys were good as 4th options
the 2x MVP can’t carry a bunch of good 4th options?
Those are mediocre starters, with literally zero depth behind them because that IS our depth
give ihart back if he is a mediocre starter to you
all of a sudden they’re mediocre players when you’re trying to make the team look worse than it is. not a singular okc fan was saying they’re mediocre before the season started
Ajay is the only one who can hold his own with a live dribble, and then whos ajays backup when he sits cause he has to start at the 2, its stirts or Josh dix, so they hold their own, and then the bench gets blasted.
Welcome to thw modern NBA with aprons and supermaxes actually hurting the teams.
OKC had the benefit of stacking their roster when J-Dub and Chet were on rookie deals. A huge reason why last year they could still be all time great during the regular season while Jalen was out. They now had to gut their depth and those injuries are much more impactful now.
I would be really surprised if we see someone achieving back-to-back Championships under this CBA. The Spurs are the best bet whilst Castle and Harper are on rookie deals, but they are on the clock.
Yep I’m calling it now: crowning a brand new NBA champ each June will become a trend.
Just watch, it’ll soon be happening..
It’s already a trend no?
modern NBA with aprons and supermaxes actually hurting the teams.
????
They have 7+ injuries. This has nothing to do with that. LOLOL OKC has the deepest team in the league but it aint that deep.
Bro. What? How does it not have anything to do with it? They had to salary dump Dort, Wiggins, and Joe this off-season for nothing. Those players would be getting significant minutes in this current injury-riddled OKC state. Their replacements are not as good as those who departed, and that was because of the 2nd Apron.
That’s rough. Interesting how some teams are given a pass when their team is injured and other teams are not. Rockets had 60% of their cap injured for the playoffs last season but they were clowned on for losing to a more experienced team.
Idt anyone really gave af abt yall tbh lol
That is fair but Lakers had their best player injured and Reaves was far from 100%
I guess you could re-read my post, but if you couldn’t understand it the first time, then I don’t know if a second reading would help you.
i think it’s closer to 80% atm.
After the terrorism ball they been playing the last few years, it’s incredibly satisfying to watch them struggle
Edit: I said what I said, but no where in that comment was anyone celebrating injuries. They’re struggling and are unable to find success in their flop focused style of basketball.
Also more awards for this comment than any I’ve ever posted. Take that for what it’s worth…
If a OKC fan said this when Wemby went out for the season they’d be on -400 btw
If Wemby went down during the finals like Hali did, that post would’ve been +5000 at least. This sub turned on him like 2 seconds after they beat OKC last year and I still can’t figure out why.
I think the Minnesota flagrant 2 was what got some people to switch sides on him
During the Portland series I don’t remember seeing any hate for him really
People are dumping on you for this take but I get it. You just want teams to be injured this year so the spurs can go to the finals again.
Couple more injuries and they might even win a chip!
And wemby has an elbow at the ready just in case they need a couple more.
If only the knicks were also injured.. maybe they couldve won lmao
I hope you enjoy another year of irrelevance 🤣
Spurs fans out here celebrating injuries. Classy as always lol
Not surprised. Lol
They had Bruce Bowen on their team flying kick other players and Robert horry hip checking a star player which led to suspensions that gift wrapped them a ring
Then they had the luckiest tank outcome by getting Wemby/harper (I’ll give them credit for castle since he wasn’t an obvious pick at 4 and was good scouting on their part)
Spurs fans are spoiled children
I feel like it’s just a mix of young fans and just lack of self awareness
The #1 reason some spurs fans I’ve met hate the Grizzlies is ‘the mid 2010s team was dirty’ which I have no idea how they can say is a reason when the 2000s spurs is right there
Of course they celebrate injuries, only reason they made it as far as they did last year.
And don’t forget the hip check that gifted them a ring
The usual suspects
most ethical basketball fans
Crazy huh?
Hey now - no where in there did I celebrate injuries. Enjoying their struggles is not celebrating injuries?
Their struggles are being injured….
Out here crying over millionaires dealing with normal hazards of their job. They are athletes. Injuries are part of the game.
The disingenuous pearl clutching is way fucking more disgusting
This ain’t it, man.
Wow, what a shitty answer from a shitty fan.
Careful now, you have twig man on your team.
Come on bruh
Celebrating two free awards looool
100% agree! FUCK OKC! They flopped their way to a ring. Play the most pathetic form of basketball possible. This feels like cosmic justice
Calm down champ
Its not cosmic justice. Its just a bunch of young guys getting injured
That clippers game really had a domino effect
these guys only get one career. to know you’re going to have to sit there for months with little chance to do anything and then sit around again for months and wait for the season to start is pretty agonizing. youre playing for pride before october is even over. brooks barnhizer and josh dix? dont make me laugh
lost 3 starters, 2 for the year, in 1 game. chet is out for 10 weeks. gotta be worst intjury night in nba history.
the clips basically gave jalen williams to okc in the pg trade, then he got injured against them. life comes at you fast in the nba, maybe the trade seem less egregious now.
I think he’s just coming to terms the year is a wash imo.
It’s funny how much shit players get for not winning championships. So much has to happen in your advantage
-Players on expiring contracts will that will get paid more the following years
-Young draft picks out performing where they were selected
-No season changing injuries that force you into a bad seed or injuries at the wrong time in playoffs
-Likely a few 50⁄50 calls that go your way
I’d say like even the best teams in history only controlled 30% of their chances to win. The other 70 is entirely up to sheer timing/luck whatever
Real shit. The last dynasty required:- a player with a completely outlier skill and BBIQ matching exactly the direction analytics and offensive complexity were leading the modern game (steph)
one of the smartest defenders of all time
a cap spike caused by a new player agreement combined with a unique disgruntled superstar getting recruited at the perfect time (KD)
And it still almost didnt happen. Dynasties are over. We shouldnt even hear that word until a team goes back to back.
You missed that Curry was underpaid at the time because the contract he was on still factored in his constant ankle injuries from his early career.
Yea and to add to that the squad needs to have good chemistry and vibes so when it gets tough, they fight for each other. Usually that means that they had to go through some form of adversity in the buildup year or years prior.
I mean….look at New York last year.
Yeah they got lucky with Robinson being on cheap contract compared to what he got this year, no season changing injuries, a last second tip in that changed the course of the series imo..
So what do you mean?
And some of the most continuity in the whole league. Which is damn near impossible with the current cap rules.
And they faced a coach who shat his pants.
Put Spo or kerr on that spurs team and they’re winning that ring
Alternatively, OKC may have won if they advanced. Spurs played incredibly for how young they were but Wemby being the rock on offense and defense was no longer possible when he was absolutely exhausted after such a taxing series in the WCF
The Thunder are still a good team and will most likely make the Post-Season despite the injuries to their main contributors. The only difference is that the Thunder’s supporting cast are no longer the best in the league and got downgraded to around league average.
It’s not a wash though, the Thunder are still very much contenders if Shai does what Shai does
You’re insane or just a homer
I’m a Celtics fan 😭 where did all the “Thunder have three whole playoff lineups” narrative go now that it’s actually being tested
Then maybe you don’t watch west basketball but one player ain’t taking a team out of the west lol. And I for one never said that but they certainly have the strongest 9 players when all healthy within the league. Problem is when 3⁄4 of those are down just like any team would have an issue
Makes one appreciate the heart that Westbrook played with even more. Not taking anything away from Shai, but to keep playing with passion in a middling team/ without getting dejected over a whole season is a skill.
I think playing with a middling team is different from playing with a team devastated from injuries. You know your expectations with a badly constructed team. But coming into a season with championship hopes and your entire team gets nuked from injuries is probably insanely demoralizing
I mean Russ also had that when KD missed 75% of the 2014-15 season fresh off his MVP win.
This happens literally every season to some team. They should all know the possibility is strong.
Yea but I doubt any team goes “we’re going to lose 3 starters and then 3 bench rotation guys 4 games into the season”
Theres a possibility but it must be devastating to see it happen so quickly.
4 games in and half of the team evaporates is not normal
I mean they were also hit hard by injuries last year, so I’m sure Shai understood the possibility of an injury riddled season. You’re underselling how fucking bad OKC have had it with injuries in the opening week lol.
I can’t remember the last team who lost multiple key players early in the season to devastating injuries in quick succession. Would you be able to remind us?
That’s just Russell Westbrook. He plays hard and gives full effort regardless of what team he’s on. He may not be efficient, but he’ll never give up on a play or team
Russell Westbrook: “I can’t ‘give up’ on off-ball defense or off-ball offense if I never play it in the first place!!”
Semi-related, but this is one of my favorite compilations (there are many) of RW passing up open shot after open shot after open shot, trying to get assists and his beloved triple double. It’s absolutely hilarious, we’ve never seen a player like this dude. Bummer he’s retired
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8erK7T_LIQ
i mean sure he is going to miss shots, brick layups, cant hit freethrows, and the entire league leaves him open on thress. but yeah
And he’ll also win MVP and knock Denver out of the playoffs in the last game of the season by himself. Fun guy
Yes he sucked at the end of his career, but he always hustled and people respect hustle
Even casuals who only watch the playoffs have better takes than this
What does that have to do with Shai
He’s trying to make the case that Shai doesn’t play with heart or passion based on a five second clip of Shai on the bench
Its crazy how dumb so many users on this sub are.
I love Russ, but Russ never watched his 2nd option snap his ankle in half, his 3rd option tear is meniscus, and his 4th option tear his labrum all in a single game like 3 games into the season
Brother he watched his top 20 teammate of all time leave him and go to the team they were a game away from beating. You act like he didn’t have to deal with any adversity lol
That’s not the point a player choosing to walk away from a team is just business. These guys did not choose to get injured having your season completely altered by freak accidents is a lot worse than what you’re trying to compare it to
The discussion point is playing with heart.
Not even close of a situation
I don’t really understand what you’re getting out of this whole willingly missing the point thing, but alright
Shai has been awarded two free throws from that redditors comment
The initial point was playing with heart. Shai is having 3 games of not being a stacked super team. Russ stuck around for years through overmatched seasons because KD left him, inches away from a championship. One he’ll never get now.
So who is dealing with more? I’m not arguing one or the other but you’re the one who discredited your own legend. You are probably just young and didn’t even watch Russ
Dudes just miss the point and start yapping on here.
Damn, didn’t realize that happened during the season
Agreed, but also it might have something to do with one player prioritizing their own stats and another prioritizing winning.
That’s not to say that Westbrook didn’t want to win. I just think SGA prioritizes it more.
Russ prioritized winning his way. His way just didn’t win
Nobody prioritizes winning and going all out more than Westbrook. What a stupid armchair psychoanalysis saying that trying your hardest every game is for padding stats instead of winning. Like what?
No one prioritizes winning more than Westbrook?!?! So he has a championship, right? Right? He sacrificed for his teammates, right?
Your comment just sent SGA to the line for two shots
SGA is 53rd in FTAs this year
Stay in school
SGA is canada dry
Westbrook can still play
Live, Laugh, Love, and just have Fun
Its a 5 sec video of a guy looking tired on the bench.
That’s just Russell Westbrook. He plays hard and gives full effort regardless of what team he’s on. He may not be efficient, but he’ll never give up on a play or team.
Westbrook…the same guy who called out his teammate for taking his rebound because he was stat chasing?!?!
….Give me SGA every single day, and it’s not even close.
Also, players can feel their emotions and it’s fine. Shit, it’s good to know stardom and infinite money doesn’t buy unlimited happiness.
Brother, I love both players as an OKC fan, but Westbrook never had to deal with this level of injuries to his team. Not to mention, Dub’s injury was incredibly traumatic. We’ve rarely (if ever) seen a title contender’s hopes shift this dramatically this quickly.
That’s why Russ is superior. His cultural footprint is intact. People has a reason to fear prime Russ regardless of team
Wildly embarrassing that we are just filming NBA players just existing for a few seconds waiting for them to do something and then just sitting here and psycho analyzing.
Yeah lmao dude just seems zoned out, who cares.
When I’m waiting for my game to download
Horrible body language from a supposed leader. He finally has to play actual basketball
Posting $20 sports bets religiously. How are you?
It’s cute how you pretend like you know anything about basketball. lol
As opposed to what he’s been doing before
Huh? For a decent chunk of SGA’s career, his teams struggled. This isn’t new to him.
Put some flair on
Yeah I feel like this is just Shai’s face. Dude has insane rbf and rarely looks like he’s having a good time even when the thunder are winning.
Bro fr
The Kuleshov Tiktok
a lot of us hate how he’s teaching the kids to exploit foul calls
DepressedGA
I would’ve gone with SGMalaise, but good initial effort to get things started.
Did Tatum taught you that line?
Exceptional grammar. Maybe it’s time to brush your tooth and go to bed.
Not bad for my 4th language right? Lagto ko, hindi mo man an hambal ko.
not sure what this about, he looks the same on the bench when thunder rolling +20
I was thinking the same thing.
Correct. But we gotta build weird narratives on the internet
Homie, check your name and my flair, people are always gonna have weird narratives every single time. Lol
Fuck no he doesn’t lol
Me before I realized 7:00 pm start time means 7:25 tipoff
I mean all the haters of SGAs ascent over the last 5 or so years will point to this as a perfect opportunity for him to prove himself capable of carrying a squad to the finals without a superteam around him. Mind you I haven’t been in that camp, he’s been having some insane seasons of efficiency for a guard. That said if your asking for 50pt outbursts to outright will a team to victory on slow nights ala Kobe/Luka I don’t think he has that in him, never been his style or has that potent/dynamic of an offensive game to do so.
I need to understand this not a superteam narrative. It has been fundamentally understood that a superteam has either 3 top 25 players or 4 all stars on the roster. Historically that’s just about where they land. A real one is about 3 top 15 players (Bron Miami). A well constructed team has 2 all stars and a bench mob(Duncan Spurs). Good luck you’re not winning a title mostly falls into the 1 man carry team (Rose Bulls). Just why on earth are we expecting Shai to have to do damage an average to below average team. This is reality. It’s not happening consistently. It’s delusional. If SGA pulls off what you’re asking he’s a top 10 player of all time category and even some of them struggled in similar situations.
Everything you said is true, but you’ve missed the point a bit.
You’ve said that SGA has essentially played on a super team. I agree.
However, the average NBA fan would probably NOT agree, and one of the main arguments these folks make is that SGA is carrying a just-above average team (his teammates are not household names at the level of LeBron-DWade-Bosh). So it’s an argument about how how much of SGA’s success is personal vs. team-driven.
Also, I dont think anyone here is saying SGA needs to carry the team specifically to a championship to prove he’s not a product of his team. Theyre just saying he needs to carry his team to a solid performance, even if they dont make the championship, as the other great players you mentioned have done.
I like SGA as a dude and generally as a player (foul baiting notwithstanding), so I’m rooting for him.
I never really considered OKC a superteam. I just don’t rate Chet that highly and I think for good reason. I always thought they needed a healthy JDub to win a title as presently constructed. SGA is a top 5 player so as long as he’s healthy the team will be in the playoffs. Maybe they get out of the first round. Tall task ahead but it will take some time to adjust.
A superteam is also defined differently today than even ten years ago. I think we’ve seen that stacking two big names with shit depth and poor complementary players just don’t work anymore. The last time it worked was the Heatles - where Chalmers, old man battier were probably the next best players outside of the big 3.
Teams today need balance, depth, defense inside/out, shooting, vets, pipeline of youth. Just to win. And OKC kind of defined the new ‘superteam’ era now’s
I think that’s the problem people just look at “house-hold” names and assume the players are good. Honestly Jdub and Chet are oddly similar to dwade and bosh. Not in play style but actually effectiveness. Ofc the leauge has changed and players are better but, considering OKC might have one of the greatest supporting cast of all time not hard to see why this is a super team. Super teams are based on how they play not who they are unless you think a team like the Cavs with it, lbj, love rose and dwade where a superteam too
KD warriors - Superteam. Duncan Spurs - not a superteam. The LeBron/Kyrie Cavs were essentially a superteam. There is absolutely a difference between a superteam and an extremely well constructed roster. Often it is based on perception of name strength.
Luka was able to carry an absolute shitbox to WCF
Thats never gonna happen when teams can throw 2-3 guys at him every possession because the rest of the team refuses to make their shots lol it was a miracle he scored 26 last night with the defense they played. I was at the game and they were just hacking him every time he touched the ball.
You guys say he’s better than Kobe. Well that’s how Kobe was treated in the down years and he still lit the league up. Time for SGA to prove he’s ’better than Kobe’
Kobe was being defended by all 5 guys at points. Nut up or shut up moment for SGA
You guys really have lost your damn minds on Kobe.
Yeah but Shai isnt gonna shoot 30+ 35+ shots as consistently as Kobe because its not his style.
Aside from the Kobe comp this is baked into the SGA criticism. You can get away with picking your shots more when you have a great team around you, the very best offensive players can adapt and carry more of the load when they need to. He’s also not the player maker luka and jokic are so he can’t make the most out of the defensive attention if he doesn’t wanna shoot more
He better make it his style or the argument will be over. With how stacked the Western Conference is this Thunder Team gonna be lucky to lose as a Play in Team. Presti is not gonna trade the future away to improve the roster now. SGA gonna have to unlock his full potential to compel this Thunder Team to the Playoffs. If he can’t or if he has already reached his pinnacle, enjoy a crack at the Lottery I guess.
the fact that double and triple teams rattle him this much is a testament to how good his teams have been
Wym he shot 50%? Thats pretty good when being defended by 2-3 guys lol name another star that see that amount of pressure. I mean if his teams were “so good” then why do other teams feel comfortable leaving 1-2 other guys open at all times when Shai has the ball.
Not saying the teams arent good. At all the Thunder have been defensive juggernauts for 3 seasons but the offense has been a problem every single year. Consistency. A lot of times we win games where the offense is shit BECAUSE the defense is so good.
Every star gets double teamed.
Yup. He’s more like Duncan than Kobe. Consistent, efficient, complete mastery of the fundamentals, team player. The Kobe comparisons just stems from the fact they both like hitting middies, have excellent footwork for a guard and plays the same position (Shai would be a 2 if he played 10 years earlier).
What dumb comment.
His FTA attempts per game have been cut in half, for once he has no All-NBA/All-Defense teammates, and his team is getting blown out in consecutive games. Kind of a Thunder haters’ wet dream.
“All my friends are dead” type energy
Ehhh it probably doesnt hit the same given that 3 starters are injured. I got negatively polarized into liking him, but tbh even for guys that I hate i dont want them to lose because they’re damn near the only starter left. I just want them to miss every bucket.
And their 6th man is also out
Look at the Thunder roster and compare it to any non top 6 team and it’s actually not bad. They still have I Hart, Ajay Mitchell is insanely good, they traded nothing to get McCain, they have Mara, JWill is a very solid off the bench 4. This is a team that should be able to win games
If basketball was played with a 6 man roster I’d agree with you
Username checks out
Bro has watched the greatest roster assembled in forever and now has to watch what is normal for any franchise and thinks he is being punished
Right I love how it’s a constant circle jerk around OKC players like that here, until now when they’re apparently absolute garbage lol
Are we going to pretend like they have a contending team with these injuries? I don’t know why people get so delusional when talking about the Thunder. The fact they even pushed everyone’s Darling Spurs to 7 with what they were dealing with last year just speaks to how great a player SGA is. I’m so tired of all these people with hate in their hearts. It’s disgusting.
Free throw attempts attempts
I say it twice for emphasis. Emphasis!
Of which OKC and him never led the league. But doesn’t stop the dumb comments.
If you think career altering injuries are funny then I guess.
Seattle sends their regards
OKC 2025 NBA Champions
Why you bringing up old stuff. We’re laughing at him suffering atm.
Live by the injury luck, die by the injury luck
Barely
🙋♂️
Now we just need a billionaire to buy the tram and move them out of that garbage city and back to Seattle.
This year we get to learn what Shai is without the crutches of a super team with superior defense.
You put Luka or Jokic on this current team and they get blown out as well.
No Dort, no Chet, no Jdub, no Cason wallace. Its literally a far worse team atm then the Lakers, who have the same record.
I’m loving it lol
yeah kind of loving this
Its not a haters wet dream… its actually showing what hes made of. He was milking the whistle and his team was so good he was getting carried into the MVP discussion.
Right, not seeing much best player in the league talk lately
He was 5th in mvp voting without all-nba and all-d players while being a significantly worse version of himself
And they were the 10th seed. Like he said, Thunder hater’s wet dream.
he was the same exact version of himself and their team had a losing record
If you think SGA didnt improve massively since 22⁄23 i dont know what to tell you. Just clueless
the team improved, he didn’t. or did he now suddenly regress to that version of himself that he has to carry a mediocre team?
Wait…didn’t he cut off his braids??? I swear he had a low cut in the off season
I think he just had em taken out
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/uhffWTdUdC
I knew I wasn’t crazy. He cut it all off back in July. Crazy genetics.
Oh damn. Thats insane. I remember seeing the pic of him witj his braids out after a game. Completely forgot about this. Yea Thats crazy
Tbh you don’t really need to grow your hair long for braids if your hair stylist knows what they’re doing.
Hair extensions
What living on Oklahoma City during election season does to a man
just watch when this state flips blue on tuesday
he misses dort..
They’re 4-2… meh. They’re missing two key guys tho so no doubt this will be a challenging season for him.
They’re missing 4 key guys, 3 of them starters and the other Alex Caruso who is one of the absolute best role players in the league
Broski we are playing g league players because we have 7 injuries
Your current healthy roster is probably better than 15 teams
6 and you still have ajay, kenrich, ihart, jaywill, mccain. there are multiple teams every year with a longer injury list than 6 players for an extended period
Now Name the players who go in the game when one of those sit…
Two?
Chet and Jalen being the two key players
You’re forgetting two other all defense caliber players in Wallace and Caruso
If Dallas lost Risacher would you say they have two key players out in Lively and Risacher just because they’re “all-nba caliber defenders”?
Oh crap, here we go again
Hello Darkness my old friend
Hello darkness my old friend
To be honest he hasnt got any sleep because all his teamates went through surgieries and he has a wife and kid himself. Hes the captain of his team..his heart must be hurting and his brain too..
What he call you and tell you or something? It’s not a good look regardless
Its common sense he wpuld cause they are like brothers but yeah its obviois moral is down and the wheela arw turning
I wouldn’t even want to play with the way his teammates got injured. I’m sure he loves basketball and the people around him. This was devastating for him. These guys are human too.
Timeline was broken all because of the Knicks winning rhe championship. Trade all over the place, injuries left and right lol
Y’all are weirdos for hating on the simplest shit like this.
A week ago SGA watched multiple people he cares deeply about get significantly injured and now have to go through pretty tough parts of their life. He has to carry that with also being the talisman for a team to rally around.
Can’t really imagine how difficult of a week it has been for him. But yeah people wanna clown on him for not smiling?
SGA and OKC bad is this subreddit’s bread and butter because they’re joyless husks that don’t even like basketball.
This guys about to jack off!