Draymond Green has identified the OKC Thunder key stars, more important than Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein.
The Oklahoma City Thunder is currently competing in the NBA Finals and is about to win their first NBA championship in 46 years.
The NBA Finals stage has not shaken up Thunder players. Shy Gilgaus Alexander broke the records set by Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson.
However, the Thunder wasn’t perfect and dropped Game 1 at home to the Indiana Pacers. They recovered in Game 2. This wasn’t thanks to Aaron Wiggins’ amazing cameo bench.
Jalen Williams reminded Thunder that he must stay hungry when heading to Indiana for games 3 and 4. But they have to resort to all the stars to be great.
Draymond Green spoke about the Oklahoma City Thunder and its players on the podcast. He admitted that Shy Gilgaus Alexander and Jalen Williams were the best and most important players, but the third star was a bit of a debate.
Green declared that Alex Caruso was the Thunder’s third most important star, citing his experience and the role of the bench as determinants.
“When I look at this OKC team, I think the third most important player is actually Alex Caruso. I think it’s really funny because he comes out of the bench. That’s always funny…”
“I think Caruso is very important what they do. You feel like you don’t plan a game plan for him.
“The reality is, he’s a champion. He actually knows… Make that bet on the person who did it. Chet doesn’t do it.”
It’s easy to forget that he’s not a Thunder starter, but Alex Caruso played pivotal minutes for the championship team and helped the Lakers win the title in 2020.
Caruso’s teammates realize how great he is for them, and compete at the highest level in the middle of the night.
And in these NBA Finals, his experience, coupled with his relentless fuss, becomes a key factor in the Thunder’s potential success.
For Green, he named Alex Caruso the third most important player. More obvious choices – Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein both had long spells from their teams during the regular season. And Thunder was able to succeed in their absence.
“When I see OKC, the most important player on that team, it’s a struggle for me. I don’t think there’s any doubt that J-Dub is the second most important or second best player.”
“What’s interesting for me is when I see these things, I try to think about these things in terms of whether I’m playing against them…”
“If I take a step back and look at this… in theory, you want to say it’s Chet… there’s been a lot of Chet this year, but they were fine.”
“Even Hartenstein was pretty out and the team rolled. I think they had a J-Dub of five. And they still rolled…”
Holmglen is on track with a playoff average of 15.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks. However, in the first two games of the NBA Finals, Holmgren’s numbers fell to 10.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game.
It is clear that the final stage is a stage where players struggle to adapt. However, his improvements from Game 1 to Game 2 are indications that he is improving very well.
For now, Holmgren needs to focus on doing the right thing for his team, rather than trying to improve his numbers and impact. There will be other opportunities for him to play the star role in the NBA Finals.