Are OKC Thunder Shooting Woes Concerning?

The good news is, the Oklahoma City Thunder are a perfect 4-0. The bad news is that the OKC Thunder are the worst team the NBA has to offer in 3-point percentage, stroking it at a 27.9% clip from downtown despite being 13th in the league in attempts per game (38.5).

Oklahoma City has labored from beyond the arc and it has led to some nip and tuck contests. For a team that last year owned the best point differential in NBA history, they have already played in two double-overtime games and survived a late comeback from Dallas on Monday in a six-point win.

The most interesting part of the Thunder's shooting woes is that this team has launched more unguarded catch-and-shoot jumpers than guarded ones and has only converted on those open chances 28.4% of the time, compared to the 29.1% clip when defended. A puzzling trend.

However, OKC has always been a streaky bunch. A year ago, the Thunder finished as the sixth best shooting team in the league from beyond the arc, despite being 27th in the NBA during the month of October (31.2%).

Eventually, things worked themselves out. Part of the reason the team finds themselves with shooting woes is the due to the injuries. Sharpshooter Isaiah Joe and All-NBA forward Jalen Williams have yet to make their season debuts, while Alex Caruso missed three of the Thunder's first four opening games and Cason Wallace missed a game as well. Those are some of the top options to cap off plays with a splash on this Thunder roster.

The Thunder in the postseason, went on an extended cold streak from deep, ranking No. 13 of 16 teams in the playoff field from distance. They still found a way to navigate that slip up en route to a championship. But shows Oklahoma City corrected their early shooting woes to finish top ten from 3-point land throughout the regular season before seeing the cold streak return.

You can make the case that banking on a handful of streaky shooters to put a consistent offense together in Bricktown is a scary proposition, but it is too early to make that judgement until the Thunder have a full roster at their disposal.

Given their track record, four games in is too soon to be concerned about the Thunder's poor 3-point shooting –– especially as they find ways to win in spite of it. However, it is something to monitor moving forward.