The Sky Falls On Every NBA Team at Least Two Times a Year.

The Oklahoma City Thunder find themselves in a bit of a paradox as the NBA season flips into the next calendar year.

On one hand, the Thunder are the defending champions and currently own the league's best record and point differential. On the other hand, the Thunder are 6-6 over their last dozen games and just lost two games in two nights including a 27 point blow out at home to the Charlotte Hornets.

Understandably, some OKC fans are starting to get a tad bit worried. Other fans have already blown by the concerned stage and are prepared to hit the panic button, otherwise known as the online trade machines.

But this recent stretch of struggle has brought an old Sam Presti quote back to the forefront of OKC social media. Back on April 20, 2023, the Oklahoma City General Manager was reflecting on that Thunder team that had just lost to the in the 2nd round of the play-in tournament. A young team headlined by rising superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and upstart rookie Jalen Williams was one game away from making the playoffs.

"The sky falls on every NBA team at least two times a year," Presti said. "So over 82 games, you will not play well for 82 games. You may play horrible for weeks, it may be a month. You don’t want to have several months. But every team, the teams that are playing right now, the sky fell on this season and everybody freaked out. And the teams that have a sophisticated competitiveness to them understand that while you’re going through that, that’s the solution. The regression is, okay you have to keep pounding through this and working through it. I think if you have the right principles, the right mentality and the right temperament you can work through that and become a better player and a better team as a result of that. And I think our guys figure that out. So there's gonna be lulls. Can you play through the lulls? Can you block out the noise? Can you not become a part of the audience? Can you still maintain the perspective of the competitor and not the observer? Because that's your only solution, is to work through it."

Long before the Thunder won 57 games and lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 West Semifinals or won 68 games and won the NBA Championship or started 24-1 and were in the discussion to possibly beat the all-time wins record, Presti already had the perfect quote to fit OKC's current situation. The question now becomes, according to the reigning Executive of the Year back before he won that honor, can the Thunder play through the lulls, block out the noise and work through it?

The sky may seem like it's falling in OKC right now with the Thunder's recent struggles on the court. But the Thunder are probably still the best team in basketball. Both things can be true.