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OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Thunder team is sick of losing.
After three seasons of sub-.500 basketball, the patience is starting to pay off. They have an MVP candidate in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leading a horde of recent lottery picks; they are young, exciting, and — as their 134-120 win over the Utah Jazz Monday further showed — they are seizing their long-awaited chance to be a threat in the league.
The Thunder improved to 15-7 on the season, good enough for second in the West. As for the Jazz? They have now lost five of their last six games.
Gilgeous-Alexander had 30 points and seven assists to lead the Thunder, Chet Holmgren had 16 points and eight rebounds, Jalen Williams had 15 points, and Josh Giddey had 12 points and 10 assists.
Gilgeous-Alexander was traded to Oklahoma City four offseasons ago from the L.A. Clippers when the Thunder started a rebuild. The rest of those players have been Thunder lottery picks in the seasons since.
Are the Jazz going to follow a similar schedule?
"They're a model for a lot of us. We're in a situation now where we're laying our foundation and we're trying to become a championship contender in the future," Jazz coach Will Hardy said.
Hardy said it's clear that the organization has all been on the same page when it comes to how to build the team. They traded away George, who was an MVP finalist in his final year in OKC, and Russell Westbrook in the summer of 2019, and traded Chris Paul the next summer.
Some hard seasons followed, but if you're looking for a team that has been built through a couple of trades and the draft, the Thunder are the model.
"They've done a really nice job of building their team," Hardy said. "A lot of really, really good young players on this roster. And so I think in that sense, it's something that we're striving for. Everybody has to do it a little bit differently because you don't all have the same picks or assets or whatever those things may be, but I think they've shown a lot of discipline with their approach to building their team and, obviously, right now they've got a really good one."
The Jazz are in the early parts of a rebuild. Like the Thunder, they got a player they can build around — Lauri Markkanen — when they traded away their stars. And like the Thunder, they have years of draft picks ahead — both their own and other teams.
Utah is high on Keyonte George's potential, who had a career-high 30 points and seven assists in Monday's loss, and sees Taylor Hendricks (8 points on 3-of-6 shooting) as a key part of the future.
There's also Walker Kessler and Ochai Agbaji, first-round picks from 2022. There's young talent on the roster, and based on how this season has gone, more will be coming in next year's draft.
But, as Hardy said, everything is done a bit differently. The Jazz kicked the tires on a Jrue Holiday trade to bring in a veteran presence to lead the team. That's not the thinking of a team willing to wait out a long rebuild.
Utah had hopes of being competitive this season, of fighting for a playoff spot or at least a play-in tournament position. At this point, it seems like a pipe dream. The Jazz's last seven losses have all come by double digits.
Utah is fine cashing in on its treasure trove of assets if the right player (or players) becomes available. That would certainly accelerate championship aspiration. If not, the Jazz could be looking at what the Thunder went through: A few seasons filled with losses and developing young talent with the hope that a championship-level team emerges.
"It's a process. it's not gonna happen overnight," Kelly Olynyk said. "'Overnight successes are 10 years in the making' or five years in the making or whatever it is. So you have to keep building and keep getting better and keep the competition level high."
