OKLAHOMA CITY — Eleven months ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder were preparing for a Play-In game against the New Orleans Pelicans. They‘d squeaked in as an upstart 10th seed.They had an afternoon practice that Jalen Williams, their emerging wing, estimated at “50 percent” intensity for the opening portion.

But half-speed turned to full throttle quick.The medical team had just cleared Chet Holmgren for full contact. After missing the entirety of his first professional season because of a foot injury, this was the closest taste of NBA basketball he’d get.

“He had mad energy,”Williams said.

Holmgren was assigned Brandon Ingram duties.When the starters went live against the scout team Pelicans, they were told to defend Holmgren like Ingram. Holmgren was told to operate like one of the league’s top-scoring wings — hunt shots aggressively, weave into difficult midrange pullups, catch-and-shoot off the curl.

“The stuff he was doing against us, we was like, ‘Damn!’” Dort laughed.“He was hitting some tough shots.I’m like, ‘Man!’Yeah.That’s gonna help. We kind of saw the vision.”

“That’s actually a really good timestamp,”Williams said of the Dort callback.“Because from then on, we kinda knew he was serious.”

That practice is an indirect microcosm of this current Thunder moment. On the ground level, they exude extreme internal focus on the present. Prep for the Pelicans. Prep for the next opponent. Prep for the playoffs.They’re 45-20, currently first in the Western Conference, harboring legit aspirations for a deep playoff run. Nobody is openly daydreaming about 2027.

But there’s also a natural sense of wonder about what’s ahead in the bigger picture, about what each leap from a core player — augmented by a cupboard full of draft and trade assets — means for the decade to come. Can they really avoid the occasional fantasizing?

“We’re human,”Williams said.

Perhaps nothing displays the combo reality quite as clear as the historical rarity of Holmgren and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s combo season. Holmgren, pretty clearly, sits in a two-man race for Rookie of the Year with Victor Wembanyama. Gilgeous-Alexander, meanwhile, has separated himself as the clearest alternative to Nikola Jokić for MVP. Vegas currently gives Gilgeous-Alexander the second-best odds.

If you employ an MVP, you’re typically a contender.If you employ a Rookie of the Year, your future stock is normally spiking. How about both at the same time? That’s extremely uncommon.

Prior to that, you have to go back to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (MVP winner) and Magic Johnson (second in ROY behind Larry Bird) on that legendary Lakers team in 1979-80 for the last combo top-two finish.It’s only been done eight times in history. Gilgeous-Alexander and Holmgren are primed to make it nine.

Dort has been along for the Gilgeous-Alexander ride since the beginning of his time in Oklahoma City.They’re close friends. He saw GilgeousAlexander soak up knowledge from Chris Paul and Dennis Schröder in their lone season next to Paul. He watched him grow into a leadership role with the rebuilding Thunder.Then he saw Gilgeous-Alexander’s standards rise as the Thunder climbed quickly back to relevance.

“I remember when Donovan Mitchell got traded to Cleveland (in the summer of 2022),” Dort said.“Shai was like, ‘Oh, yes, another All-Star out of the West.’”

It’s a comment that stuck with Dort.

“When he said that,I was like, ‘Whoa.That’s that’s his goal now.That’s where his mentality is at now,’” Dort said.“As a teammate, seeing that was actually crazy.The way he just approached that season to where he made his first All-Star was insane.”

Gilgeous-Alexander hit a franchise milestone on Tuesday night against the Indiana Pacers that generated some local buzz. He scored 30 points for the 48th time this season.That eclipsed Kevin Durant’s record of 47 games of 30-plus in a single season.

“Kev’s done amazing things here in his career,” Gilgeous-Alexander said postgame.“To be in those conversations is a blessing.”

Gilgeous-Alexander sits at 31.1 points per game this season.It’s actually a tick down from his 31.4 points per game a season ago. But his field goal percentage has improved from 51 percent to 54.6 percent. His 3s have gone from 34.5 percent to 38.5 percent. He’s 88.2 percent from the line.

“A lot gets made of the consistency (of his 30-point nights),”Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.“But to me, the most comforting thing is the efficiency behind it.Whatever possessions he’s using on almost every single night, you’re dealing with a guy who is really strong (points per attempt) and low turnovers. So you know however many possessions he’s using, you’re getting a lot of bang for your buck.That’s most comforting.”

Both Dort and Williams noted Gilgeous-Alexander’s defensive focus and disruption. His 133 steals lead the NBA.The Thunder has the league’s fourth best defense. He’s 6-foot-6 and holds his own.

“Whenever I’m guarding someone and I hear him call the coverage,I know if it’s a switch, he’ll guard and get a stop for us,” Dort said.

Williams has only been with Gilgeous-Alexander for two seasons, his two best as a pro. He sensed more trust from Gilgeous-Alexander this season, more willingness to get off the ball and let him initiate at times, which Williams said has a trickle down impact on the overall flow and offensive success rate.

Williams could sense this Gilgeous-Alexander leap coming in the summer. He traveled to Toronto after he was drafted to workout with GilgeousAlexander. He did it again prior to this season.

“It was way different just offensively,”Williams said.“We were playing 1s and he was in a different mode.

” Trickier?

“Yeah,”Williams said.“He’s going through stuff and he has like a team of people that guard him and they know what he’s working on and they’re trying to stop what he’s doing and he’s still able to do it.I think that’s when you can tell that somebody is taking a jump because everybody knows what he’s going to do and he’s still able to get to spots on a consistent basis.

” Gilgeous-Alexander’s cleanest path to eclipsing Jokić for MVP will come in the win column. His statistical case is stout.There’s no way to prove he’s ultimately at Jokić‘s level until the playoffs. But the Thunder are currently tied with the Nuggets at 45-20 for the conference’s best record.

 The Thunder have the tiebreaker because of a 3-1 head-to-head record. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 40 and 34 in the last two wins against the Nuggets.If they can separate in a substantial way for the top seed during the stretch run, it’ll be a big checkmark in Gilgeous-Alexander’s favor. He will likely need it. Jokić is currently the slight favorite over him.

Holmgren has a more daunting climb. He’s basically locked into a top-two Rookie of the Year finish, but Wembanyama’s raw box score numbers and viral highlight reels have nudged him into prohibitive favorite status, especially for an award where voters historically regard winning as less of a necessary factor.

But the team case shouldn’t be ignored. Holmgren is the lone rim protector for a top-five defense and an efficient third scorer for the league’s thirdbest offense. He’s averaging 16.8 points on 53.5 percent overall and 38.8 percent from 3. He has played in all 65 games and totaled 166 blocks. Holmgren and Wembanyama are on pace to become the first rookies since Tim Duncan in 1998 to have 200 blocks.

“The dude will go get anything up there,” Dort said of Holmgren.“If somebody drives and he’s there, he’s going.It don’t matter if it’s a floater or whatever. He don’t care about getting dunked on.Which is huge. Sometimes young guys come in and want to look cute and don’t want to be on the highlight reel or whatever. He don’t care.When guys get in the lane, sometimes I just stop and am like, ‘Yeah, go ahead.Try him.’”

At minimum, it appears Holmgren will be All-Rookie First Team and Gilgeous-Alexander will be All-NBA First Team.That’ll be the second straight season the franchise has checked both boxes. Gilgeous-Alexander finished All-NBA First Team last season and Williams finished AllRookie First Team (second in ROY voting).That hasn’t been done in back-to-back seasons by the same franchise since the Showtime Lakers in the early 1980s.

Not all promising young cores pan out exactly as expected or produce multiple titles.This Thunder franchise once drafted three straight future MVPs (Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden), experienced tons of success, but never made it over the championship mountain. So there’s reason to live in the more cautionary present.