{"id":177688,"date":"2026-02-13T20:48:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T01:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=177688"},"modified":"2026-02-13T20:48:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T01:48:38","slug":"okc-all-star-break-where-does-the-thunder-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/02\/13\/okc-all-star-break-where-does-the-thunder-stand\/","title":{"rendered":"OKC All-Star Break: Where Does the Thunder Stand?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Finally reaching the All-Star Break, OKC has some things to figure out moving forward if they plan to repeat as NBA champions by June. We&#8217;ve seen how they were really struggling to find ways to win without the bulk of their roster, and now they&#8217;ve got plenty of time to rest.<\/p>\n<p>Entering the All-Star Break with a 42-12 record, it does raise some alarms for Oklahoma City. For one, they are yet to play at full strength. They&#8217;re also yet to achieve full synergy on the roster, as seen by that tough loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. Then there&#8217;s the big problem of their big three still yet to play together consistently.<\/p>\n<h2><span data-sheets-root=\"1\">OKC All-Star Break: Where Does the Thunder Stand?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>So far, there are some positives and negatives to take away from the Thunder&#8217;s campaign. Sure, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gilgesh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> is still pacing to win back-to-back MVPs, and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/holmgch01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chet Holmgren<\/a> has finally been named an All-Star. However, not everything does seem to be on the right track. There are plenty of issues worth addressing. This just shows how much OKC really needed the All-Star Break.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: 800px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBqVkKJWhW\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 3072px; aspect-ratio: 3072\/2048;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<h3>The Positives<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/01\/13\/is-chet-holmgren-good-enough-to-hold-okc-center-spot\/\" target=\"_self\">Holmgren&#8217;s case as an All-Star<\/a> and even Defensive Player of the Year was a sure-fire. Many critics were anticipating it right from the start of the season. We&#8217;ve seen the Thunder flare up some bigger minutes for <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/joeis01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Isaiah Joe<\/a>, who&#8217;s been scorching hot since the Trade Deadline. The acquisition of <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mccaija01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jared McCain<\/a> is also <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/02\/05\/okc-trade-deadline-grades\/\" target=\"_self\">proving to be a win<\/a> as the guard is starting to show his full potential.<\/p>\n<p>For starters, Holmgren is averaging 17.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks in 29.2 minutes per game. He&#8217;s been a menace for the Thunder so far, and his 56% shooting from the field is definitely a sight to behold. Sure, he&#8217;s got some inconsistent games, but he&#8217;s also found a way to thrive when it matters most.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Chet Holmgren All-Star, All-Defense and DPOY in the same season <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Bq8lT5fSQq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/Bq8lT5fSQq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \ud835\ude4e\ud835\ude60\ud835\ude6e\ud835\ude5a\ud835\ude59 \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa (@SkyedOKC) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SkyedOKC\/status\/2007311857133203882?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 3, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Joe was also starting to show some impressive stretches. OKC has a dire need for his shooting, and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.statmuse.com\/nba\/ask\/isaiah-joe-stats-from-the-last-5-games-this-season\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in the last five games,<\/a> Joe is averaging 16.0 points on 44% shooting, including a strong 50% from deep. Even Lu Dort is starting to bounce back from his poor shooting stretch to begin January.<\/p>\n<h3>The Negatives<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_177306\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-177306\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/02\/USATSI_28198117_168402037_lowres-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Feb 9, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Jalen Williams (8) drives to the basket against Los Angeles Lakers forward Luke Kennard (10) during the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" class=\"size-large wp-image-177306\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/02\/USATSI_28198117_168402037_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/02\/USATSI_28198117_168402037_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/02\/USATSI_28198117_168402037_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/02\/USATSI_28198117_168402037_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/02\/USATSI_28198117_168402037_lowres-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/02\/USATSI_28198117_168402037_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/02\/USATSI_28198117_168402037_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-177306\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Feb 9, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Jalen Williams (8) drives to the basket against Los Angeles Lakers forward Luke Kennard (10) during the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By now, the injury narrative for Oklahoma City is completely a disaster. We&#8217;ve seen the likes of <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/harteis01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Isaiah Hartenstein<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willija07.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaylin Williams<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/carusal01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alex Caruso<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willija06.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Williams<\/a>, and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mitchaj01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ajay Mitchell<\/a> all miss key games for the season. Even SGA himself is on the injury list right now and will not be playing in the All-Star Game. Believe it or not, the Thunder don&#8217;t have the best record in the league by the All-Star Break.<\/p>\n<p>Detroit stands with a 40-13 record, while the Thunder are sitting at 42-14. That&#8217;s good for the first seed in the West, but only three games ahead of their fierce rivals, the San Antonio Spurs. The injuries aren&#8217;t that big of a negative anyway. This allowed the OKC bench to thrive and figure out ways to win themselves.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">okc has had so many injuries but it is still incredible that with how many people (me included) were saying that okc was a historically great regular season team that could potentially win 75 games, and now detroit has a better win percentage than them at the all-star break <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8JTaVPnVrx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/8JTaVPnVrx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; arsh (@dunkerjatt) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dunkerjatt\/status\/2022264997506678949?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 13, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the biggest negative here is that the Thunder&#8217;s big three are yet to fully sync. Last season, it was Chet who had to play <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/02\/10\/jalen-williams-return-game-hinted-thunders-missing-potential\/\" target=\"_self\">catch-up with Shai and J-Dub<\/a>. However, this year&#8217;s injuries are quite alarming, considering both SGA and Williams are out with respective injuries. In fact, they&#8217;ve only <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/team\/1610612760\/lineups-advanced?GroupQuantity=3&amp;dir=D&amp;sort=MIN\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">played 21 games together with a 14-7 record<\/a>. This is a huge difference that should change when they return from the All-Star Break.<\/p>\n<h3>Can OKC Figure Things Out?<\/h3>\n<p>Let&#8217;s not panic right away. The Thunder went 44-10 last season heading into the All-Star Break. This year&#8217;s OKC squad is only two games behind the same team that won the NBA Finals last June. The 2024-25 squad only had Chet as the injured player for a longer stretch. The fact that this year&#8217;s team is only two games behind says a lot about the Thunder&#8217;s hopes for a winning stretch soon.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, the Thunder can figure out their hiccups moving forward. They&#8217;ve shown some flaws and signs of struggling in the first half of the season. However, this also means that they&#8217;re definitely coming in hot with a better pace in their next games. That&#8217;s a great deal of expectations from the defending champions.<\/p>\n<p>Featured Image: <span>Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Finally reaching the All-Star Break, OKC has some things to figure out moving forward if they plan to repeat as NBA champions by June. We&#8217;ve seen how they were really struggling to find ways to win without the bulk of their roster, and now they&#8217;ve got plenty of time to rest. Entering the All-Star Break [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5536,"featured_media":177714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,22],"tags":[4292,5000,4609,1489],"class_list":["post-177688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-thunder","tag-chet-holmgren","tag-isaiah-joe","tag-jalen-williams","tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander"],"modified_by":"Benjamin Yu, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5536"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177688"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177715,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177688\/revisions\/177715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}