A shorthanded Thunder struggles with shooting and transition. Hear how they can regain footing and find deadline solutions.
This episode of The Uncontested breaks down Oklahoma City’s loss to Toronto as a game that revealed what the Thunder looks like when the margin for error disappears.
The conversation starts with the injury context: Oklahoma City was severely short-handed, missing seven players, with Cason Wallace added to the list due to a groin issue. From there, the hosts frame the night as less about “bad luck” and more about how thin the Thunder can feel when multiple rotation pieces are unavailable.
Offensively, the biggest red flag was the shooting. The Thunder hit just 26% from three and repeatedly failed to cash the open looks that typically swing these grind-it-out games. Even with Gilgeous-Alexander drawing extra attention and creating advantages, the group couldn’t consistently punish Toronto’s coverages. That ties into a broader point the hosts emphasize: without a reliable secondary ball-handler, the offense can become one-dimensional, and it showed in the shot profile. Gilgeous-Alexander and Holmgren both ended up with fewer attempts than usual, which the hosts treat as a symptom of the overall flow and lineup limitations rather than a simple “be more aggressive” fix.
They also point to areas that are usually Thunder strengths but weren’t in this one: rebounding and transition. Oklahoma City got beat on the glass, struggled to manufacture extra possessions, and didn’t generate the fast-break production that often fuels their best runs. When the threes aren’t falling, those “effort edges” are usually the safety net, and Toronto didn’t allow it.
From there, the episode shifts into trade deadline thinking. The hosts float the idea that the Thunder could use insurance in two categories: another big body and another creator. Names like Santi Aldama and Saddiq Bey come up as theoretical targets who could add depth, lineup flexibility, and protection against the exact kind of short-handed stretch this loss highlighted.
They wrap with an All-Star voting segment, digging into how Gilgeous-Alexander’s fan, player, and media voting compares across seasons and what it says about his league-wide perception right now.