OKC Thunder Get Boost From Top Options vs. Mavericks

Despite their 22-1 start, no one has seen the best of the 2025-26 Oklahoma City Thunder yet. The Bricktown Ballers have been short-handed all season and remain as such despite their impressive –– and historic –– start to their regular season campaign.

On Friday, the OKC Thunder dismantled the Dallas Mavericks, 132-111, with the benches clearing at the 7:44 mark in the final frame after Mavericks star Anthony Davis finally tossed in a bucket to mosey to the pine with two points to his name.

Oklahoma City has left teams battered, beaten, bruised and bludgeoned all season long with their devastating, demoralizing, defense.

However, on Friday, the first three quarters showed how lethal they can be on offense as the Thunder get healthy and gain chemistry.

It was the Bricktown Ballers' big three that lit up the scoreboard as superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, All-NBA swingman Jalen Williams and rising star big man Chet Holmgren all logged 15-plus points in less than 30 minutes of work.

Gilgeous-Alexander, the League's reigning MVP, only needed 28 minutes and 12 shots to post 33 points, five rebounds, six assists and a block against Dallas while shooting a jaw-dropping 83% from the floor, going 2-for-2 from beyond the arc and 11-for-12 at the charity stripe. No one the Mavericks threw at the league's best scorer could disrupt him, let alone slow him down.

Williams logged 24 minutes while dishing out five assists, hauling in eight rebounds and putting up 15 points alongside Holmgren who needed just 23 minutes to produce his 15 points, eight rebound, one assist, and one block outing.

Between the trio, the Oklahoma City Thunder trio enjoyed 63 points, 12 assists, 21 rebounds and three stocks (steals + blocks) with all of them shooting 45% or better from the floor.

In this game, Holmgren impressed with his ability to receive entry passes in the post against smaller matchups, put the ball on the deck and create his own shot. Williams leaned on his gravity as a driver to free up his teammates and once he finds his touch wil return to the player he was a year ago. Gilgeous-Alexander? Business as usual, dazzling in the mid-range, delightful at the cup and daring at the 3-point line hitting a side-step triple and step back 3 showing how unguardable he is.

As the big three in Oklahoma City not only improve individually with the new found inside the arc scoring process of Holmgren, 3-point touch from Gilgeous-Alexander and improved playmaking from Williams but gain chemistry together with these new identities, they stand to only get scarier for the rest of the league.

Take Williams for example. The Santa Clara is still impacting winning in a massive way in his return to the hardwood, but that is without his expected efficiency at all three levels. He will not be held down for long in that department, the further he gets away from the wrist injury the more he will morph into the player he was a year ago and even surpass that mark as still just a fourth year player.

While it is easy to get lost in the success of this trio and team as a whole, the best is yet to come.