Taichaogang! The Thunder s remnant formation first locked up Kuli and then pinched Dongli. Only the second line of rich people can stop them?

Star Tomb 2.0 version is online, and the stars are trembling.

So far this season, the only stars who can retreat in front of the Thunder defense to achieve both production and efficiency are Shen Jing and Durant in the opening game, and Siakam in the second game. When the Thunder found the rhythm with two double overtimes, the hunting moment arrived.

Trae Young made 5 of 12 shots and had 15 points, 10 assists and 5 turnovers; Flagg made 1 of 9 shots and had 2 points; Morant had 11 points on 3 of 18 shots; Curry had 11 points on 4 of 13 shots; Doncic made 7 of 20 shots and had 19 points, 7 assists and 4 turnovers; Reeves made 4 of 12 shots and had 13 points, 3 assists and 5 turnovers.

What’s even more frightening is that second-in-command Jaylen Williams has not yet returned, Dortmund has missed 6 games, Holmgren and Caruso have missed 5 games each, and the entire Thunder has not yet appeared. But the Thunder surrendered a terrifying answer of 103 points per 100 possessions, suffocating their opponents, which was 3.6 points less than the league's lowest 106.6 points last season.

In this version, the defending champion is too over the top.

There is no shortage of cases of "championship hangover" in NBA history. Some teams die after getting too addicted to it. Once they reach the top, they become addicted to glory and lose their ambition. But you can't see any complacency on this Thunder team.

After the Thunder defeated the Pacers in a tiebreaker to win the championship last season, veteran Caruso told the team in the locker room: "We will be better next year!"

How can a team with 68 wins and 14 losses in a single season, third in offensive efficiency, and top defensive efficiency and net efficiency become better?

Alexander gave the answer: "To be honest, I didn't like the way we won the championship last season. It may feel strange to say this, but I don't think we played our best performance. Our performance in the playoffs was not as dominant as the regular season, including myself, my performance in the playoffs was not as dominant as usual Regular season. In the new season, we need to be more focused, more disciplined, more decisive, and more aggressive."

After the Thunder won the championship, they gave the team a month and a half of leave to enjoy the joy of winning. During this period, the management and coaching staff did not interrupt the players' lives at all. Normally, all players return to Oklahoma City in early September to prepare for the new season in advance. This year, the Thunder postponed the team's assembly time, which is a test of the players' self-discipline, but no one in the Thunder slacked off during the holiday.

Alexander won the regular season MVP, Western Conference Finals MVP and Finals MVP last season. He has already achieved a Grand Slam, but "winning again" inspired him to reach a higher level. Alexander was not idle during the offseason, honing his off-ball offensive skills and improving his catching and shooting. That's a lesson Alexander learned from his playoff experience. When the opponent is determined to force him to pass the ball, how can he improve his offensive participation? Playing more without the ball is the answer.

This season, Alexander averaged 32.5 points per game, only 0.2 points less than last season. In NBA history, 34 people have averaged at least 32 points per game in a single season, and 28 of them scored less than 32 points in the subsequent season. The rare exceptions are Doncic, Embiid, Jordan, Elgin Baylor and Chamberlain (twice). Alexander may become the sixth person in history.

"He constantly wants to be a better version of himself and win more, and that competitiveness is contagious," Caruso said.

Alexander’s self-discipline and hard work have indeed “infected” the entire team. Holmgren also likes to watch videos of beautiful women dancing and has been photographed, but he is not lazy at the training ground. Looking at the statistics, the statistics of most Thunder players have improved compared to last season. This isn't simply because other players are getting more opportunities with Jay Wei gone. Taking Holmgren as an example, his scoring increase was more due to a 10 percentage point increase in field goal percentage. Including Hartenstein, his shooting percentage skyrocketed from 58.1% to 69.1%, becoming a terrifying finishing weapon.

Considering that the Thunder were the second youngest championship team last season, with only Caruso and Kenrich Williams over the age of 27, and the core lineup from the championship season being all retained, they themselves have greater room for growth than other championship teams in history.

Facts have proved that the Thunder's progress has exceeded expectations. Their chemistry and defense are stronger, and their offensive coordination is better than last season. Role players like Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, Carson Wallace, everyone can contribute in different ways. Including coach Daignault, he was questioned many times last season, but many people forget that last season was only the second time he led the team to the playoffs. This season he is only 40 years old, and he is still learning how to quickly adjust according to the game situation.

Looking at this Thunder, Draymond Green thought of the Warriors in their heyday.

"When your leader pursues excellence like Alexander day after day, others have to keep up, and they did," Green said. "They were missing several people, but they acted like they were missing no one. They were like a well-oiled machine, and it was the same in our heyday."

In the eyes of many industry insiders, the only thing that can prevent the Thunder from building a dynasty is the second wealthy line. After the Thunder won the championship, they rewarded them based on their merits and spent more than 800 million US dollars to renew the contracts of Alexander, Holmgren and Jaywe. The salaries of the three of them account for only 38% of the salary cap this season, and the Thunder do not have to pay luxury tax. By the time Holmgren and Jewry's contracts take effect in the 2026-27 season, this number will reach at least 75%. Starting from the 2027-28 season, this figure will reach 85%.

The Thunder Trident must be disbanded? Not necessarily. Because the Thunder not only have a strong sense of design in terms of salary space control (using diminishing contracts and team options), but they are also constantly digging out available talents with high cost performance.

Ajay Mitchell, the No. 38 pick in 2024, was a two-way contract player for the first half of last season and then became a regular player. He has an annual salary of US$3 million this season. His contract is non-guaranteed next season and is a team option for the 2027-28 season.. This season, Mitchell became the Thunder's third leading scorer during Jaywe's absence, averaging 16.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.8 steals per game.

If the Thunder need to endure the pain of making subtractions in the lineup, Presti actually has many options. For example, if the Thunder really give up or send away Caruso and Dortmund, the Thunder will be emotionally reluctant to part with them, but the Thunder can immediately find cheap and easy-to-use replacements. Wallace is already an excellent perimeter lock this season.

The Thunder may not even use their first-round pick. The Joe they dug up was only the 49th pick, Mitchell was only the 38th pick, Aaron Wiggins was only the 55th pick, and Jaylin Williams was the 34th pick. Lei Lei's ability to search for treasures and develop it is of historical level. The Thunder have seemingly endless first-round picks in their hands, and they continue to dig out useful second-round picks, which makes other teams despair.

By the way, the Clippers' 2026 first-round pick is in the hands of the Thunder. Based on the Clippers' current record, there is a 31.9% probability that this first-round pick will be the top 4 pick. If the Thunder get a top 4 pick in the Super Draft, it might really be the end.

The most regrettable thing about the Thunder this season is that the No. 15 pick in 2025, center Sauber, was injured in the knee. Originally, the Thunder planned to train Sauber in the new season and wait and see how to deal with Hartenstein's team options in the summer of 2026. The plan fell through, and the Thunder can only hope that Hartenstein will reduce his salary and renew his contract in the summer of 2026 like VanVleet.

After the second wealthy line and the more stringent luxury tax system were introduced, each team was faced with a formidable enemy and did not dare to touch the red line easily. But the Thunder are not worried at all. They have not paid luxury tax in recent years. It is still early to trigger the super luxury tax, and there is a lot of buffer space.

In addition, the Thunder's financial health is excellent. Last season's tax avoidance championship gave them a lot of income. With the new television broadcast contract taking effect and the new arena opening in the 2028-29 season, the Thunder will increase revenue by more than $100 million per year. If the league expands and successfully establishes a European league, the revenue allocated to the Thunder will be even greater.

In Alexander's view, the Thunder are in a perfect situation of "no worries near and no worries far away", and they can focus on trying to build a dynasty.

"Why are you thinking so far, we won't even really discuss splitting the team. The feeling of winning the championship is so great, let's do it again!"