The New York Knicks and Oklahoma City Thunder are regarded as very strong and promising teams in the 2025-2026 NBA season. Until recently, this sentiment seemed to be the truth, but unfortunately, both of these teams are going through some slumps. Both teams have their reasons, but are they real reasons? Or are they just excuses to make up for the terrible performances? Let’s get into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oklahoma City Thunder<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Oklahoma City Thunder recently came off of their second all-time NBA Championship. They came into the 2025-2026 season with all the confidence in the world, and it definitely showed. The Oklahoma City Thunder\u2019s record in the first 25 games of the season was 24-1, which had only been done by one other team in all of NBA history. To begin their slump, the Thunder went 0-3 against the San Antonio Spurs. During all three of these games, OKC had almost its entire squad, so injuries weren\u2019t a reasonable excuse. Key players Victor Wembanyama and De\u2019Aaron Fox completely dominated for San Antonio, and it did not seem like the Thunder could do anything to stop them. These three losses may not have been part of the slump; the Spurs may just be the better team. On December 19, OKC had a brutal loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves, 112-107, led by Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle. On January 4, the Phoenix Suns came up on top against the Thunder. In this incredibly competitive match, the Suns kept guard and former MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s shooting percentage at only 36%. Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s average shooting percentage this season is almost 60%, so this may have been the main factor that caused the Suns to get away with the win. The very next day, the Charlotte Hornets blew out the Thunder by nearly 30 points! If this had been a close game, it could have been considered as just an off day, but 30 points\u2014that means something. The Hornets are ranked 12 in the Eastern Conference, while the Thunder is ranked first in the entire league. No one expected this blowout to happen. True number one ranked teams do not just get blown out by organizations thought to be so much worse than they are. Is the Thunder simply a fraud? Most recently, the Thunder fell short against the Miami Heat, allowing Heat center Bam Adebayo to score 30 points and grab 12 rebounds. Despite all of these losses, OKC still has an amazing record of 37-8, but it does make you wonder: Does OKC have what it takes to repeat as champions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n New York Knicks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The New York Knicks are in an incredibly different situation than the Thunder are. They are in a much bigger slump, but on their behalf, the Knicks have not had a fully healthy team since October 31, 2025. Various injuries have been killing this team, and not a single New Yorker has been happy with their recent performances. In the Knicks\u2019 last 10 games, they are 2-8; that record is nothing to be proud of. They have not lost to the Suns once, but twice! Both of these games were nail-biters right until the end. In the two games, New York allowed Devin Booker to average 28.8 points against them. In the season, he is only averaging 25 points. The Knicks also fell short against both the Warriors and the Kings. If the Knicks want a chance at making it to the NBA finals this year, then they need to pick it up. After the Pacers beat the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals last season, their star guard, Tyrese Haliburton, tore his Achilles tendon, which resulted in his missing the entire 2025-2026 season. Many thought that with the Pacers out of the way, the Knicks would have a clear path to the Championship series. Unfortunately, this may not be the case. In their last ten games, the Knicks have also lost to the Pistons and 76ers, both great teams in the Eastern Conference. At this pace, the Knicks may not even make it to the second round of the playoffs. The reason behind this clear slump may be the fact that New York\u2019s hustle player, Josh Hart, has experienced many small injuries. Hart has proven to be the \u201cglue guy\u201d for the New York Knicks. Without him, the team begins to fall apart. Hopefully, when he returns for good, the Knicks will be back on top. Even though this losing streak can be partly blamed on injuries, it does put a question in the air: do the New York Knicks have what it takes to make it out of the Eastern Conference, or is this more than just a slump?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connecting To Fieldston: Interview with Liev Nurick<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nurick (III) believes that the situations for the Knicks and the Thunder are incredibly different. Nurick explains, \u201cOKC has been figured out; when they do not get the best whistles in the league, they lose.\u201d Nurick thinks that Thunder guard Jalen Williams needs to step up, similarly to how he did as an NBA All-Star last year. \u201cIt has come to light that Lu Dort plays basketball as if he is a linebacker. His defense is simply overrated,\u201d Nurick states, with confidence. However, if Gilgeous-Alexander can continue to dominate, without having to rely on his free throws, OKC can still be a championship team. If Williams steps up, along with other backups, the ball will be spread out more, which will result in consistent wins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Knicks are in a very different position than the Thunder are. Nurick believes that their problem is not only injuries but also the \u201cconstruction of the team.\u201d Nurick says, \u201cthe Knicks were able to win the In-Season Tournament because of guys like Tyler Kolek and Jordan Clarkson stepping up behind stars like [Jalen] Brunson, KAT [Karl-Anthony Towns] and OG [Anunoby]. Now that the bench has slowed down, the team is constantly falling short.\u201d Nurick definitely makes a strong point. In these last ten upsetting games, six of the eight losses have been near ten point games. (say how many of the eight were single-digit losses. Now that the bench players, as well as Towns, are lagging behind, the Knicks haven\u2019t played as strongly as they usually can. Once they recover from this small slump, the Knicks should go back to where they were earlier in the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the Knicks and the Thunder have both been experiencing some cold streaks, they are in very different positions. Even though the Thunder have had some unexpected losses, their record is still 37-8, which is beyond impressive. Their record is amazing, but when they fall short against teams like the Hornets, it raises questions of if they are as good as they were last season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Recently, everyone has seen how good the Knicks can truly be. Their potential is unquestionably excellent. During the In-Season NBA Cup, we saw hints of a real championship-caliber team. Kolek, Landry Shamet, Deuce Mcbride, Clarkson and Mitchell Robinson all stepped up into the roles that they needed to play. Brunson, Towns, Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Hart all dominated on offense and defense. The team looked the best that it had in years. Unfortunately, Towns has been in a shooting slump, Hart and Brunson have faced injuries and the entire team has slowly fallen apart. When everyone is back and healthy, the Knicks will surely get back to the winning team they can be. When will this happen? There is no way to tell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The New York Knicks and Oklahoma City Thunder are regarded as very strong and promising teams in the 2025-2026 NBA season. Until recently, this sentiment seemed to be the truth, but unfortunately, both of these teams are going through some slumps. Both teams have their reasons, but are they real reasons? Or are they just excuses to make up for the terrible performances? Let’s get into it. Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder recently<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":454,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[317],"tags":[],"coauthors":[724],"class_list":["post-12913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12913"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12914,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12913\/revisions\/12914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12913"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=12913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}