NBA Power Rankings Week 7: The revenge of the Los Angeles Lakers

Last Week: Lost to Houston Rockets 136-106, Beat Houston Rockets 104-87, Lost to Minnesota Timberwolves 106-103, Beat Minnesota Timberwolves 120-118

This Week: 2/8 at Los Angeles Lakers, 2/10 at Los Angeles Lakers, 2/12 at Denver Nuggets

The Oklahoma City Thunder are essentially a jigsaw puzzle mixed with a chemistry experiment. Against the Minnesota Timberwolves Saturday night, they began the game with a starting lineup of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Kenrich Williams, Theo Maledon, Lu Dort and Darius Bazley. It is no surprise that Naz Reid feasted but the Thunder won that game.

Al Horford plays in roughly every other game. George Hill suffered an unfortunate injury that will sideline him for three to four weeks, potentially messing up possible trades. The young guys are experiencing their growing pains. If they are going to split their games each week, it may not matter.

Gilgeous-Alexander deserves more spotlight than he is likely to get this season. He missed the loss to the Timberwolves this week but otherwise was dominant. In the win against the Wolves, he posted a line of 31 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and a steal to lead his team to victory.

Making it to the All-Star Game as a guard in the Western Conference is a tall task. Simply based on statistics, SGA fits the bill. If any of the young guys around him can begin to mimic the consistency he brings to the court on a daily basis, that is when this team will thrive.