With the 2026-27 regular season right around the corner, the Oklahoma City Thunder enter the year as a popular title pick. Even after their summer of cost-cutting moves, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams remain one of the most successful and decorated trios in the league.
The Thunder had a league-best 64-18 this past regular season. But fell short of their back-to-back ambitions in the 2026 Western Conference Finals. Injuries played a large part in that. But that's in the past. Can't change anything about it now.
Now that the offseason is behind us and we're looking ahead to another nine-month marathon, let's rewind on OKC's biggest moves and preview what most folks believe the Thunder will do this upcoming year.
To get
ready for the upcoming season, Thunder Wire conducted a 16-question fan survey. A total of 1,145 Thunder fans participated. Not every question was answered, though. The response totals for each question can be seen in the top-left corner of the pie charts.
One question was about OKC's second-best player. Everybody knows the top dog is Gilgeous-Alexander. The future Hall-of-Famer is arguably the best in the game. His resume certainly backs that up. But who's his better-suited Robin to complement his Batman? Holmgren or Williams?
In an overwhelming response, most Thunder fans picked Williams. He garnered an eye-popping 87% of the votes.
Oh wow. This is surprising. Not for the answer, but for how one-sided it is. Most believe Williams is OKC's second-best player. Since he and Holmgren arrived in 2022, they've taken turns being Gilgeous-Alexander's Robin. Williams in the 2024-25 season and Holmgren in the 2025-26 season. But I guess Holmgren's 20226 Western Conference Finals stinker left a sour note that has hindered him all offseason.
Still, Williams struggled to stay healthy. That must change. Regardless of your answer, the Thunder are at their best when all three of their franchise pillars are hooping. The two-time MVP winner and both All-NBA members hope for better health luck after two years of living out worst-case scenarios.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: 2026 OKC Thunder fan survey results: Jalen Williams viewed as 2nd-best player
