
Earlier this month, after one of Oklahoma City’s double-digit drubbings, I asked Shai Gilgeous-Alexander a question: Did you see any of this coming? Fresh off a championship season, the Thunder expected to be good. But 17–1, with the NBA’s best defensive rating (by a lot) and a net rating that dwarfs last season’s NBA-record mark? All with Jalen Williams, the Thunder’s All-NBA guard, in street clothes?
“Yeah,” says Gilgeous-Alexander. “I kind of expected it.”