OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Thunder might just be scratching the surface of their potential.
Oklahoma City's season ended Saturday night with a loss to Dallas in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs. But the fact that the Thunder even got that far should concern the rest of the league. After missing the playoffs last year, they became the youngest team in NBA history to clinch a No. 1 seed and the youngest to win a playoff series this season.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was an MVP finalist and proved himself worthy by averaging 30 points per game in the playoffs. Chet Holmgren was runner-up for rookie of the year and established himself as one of the league's top shot blockers. Jalen Williams, runner-up for rookie of the year last season, was the steady No. 2 scorer this season. Lu Dort was one of the league's top perimeter defenders.
That core, with no starters older than 25, was among the key reasons Mark Daigneault was named NBA Coach of the Year, and why he's looking forward to the future.
''This is a young team that is evolving, and we have runway because of the age of the team and the experience level of the team,'' Daigneault said. ''A lot of people talked about our experience in a negative fashion this year, like, ‘You guys don't have experience.' But part of that is it gives you an incredible runway moving forward, and it gives us a lot of optimism as we continue to go.''
Gilgeous-Alexander has emerged as a superstar the past two years. Last season, he was a first-team All-NBA selection. This season, he was an All-Star again and ranked third in the NBA in scoring. He also finished second in the league in steals and seventh in the balloting for defensive player of the year.
Daigneault said Gilgeous-Alexander improved on little things this season.
''I think it's easy to get awestruck by his talent and what he's accomplishing and how efficiently he does it and the place that he's carved out in the league,'' Daigneault said. ''But the secret behind that is very consistent work, very targeted work, and incremental improvement.''