Mark's Men Mauled by Milwaukee, Minnesota and Memphis

There are still 14 games left to play. But for at least three members of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the 2021-22 season has already come to a close.

Luguentz Dort, Ty Jerome and Mike Muscala all underwent seasonending surgeries on Tuesday, March 8, leaving OKC without its best defender and two knockdown shooters for the remainder of the season. Dort's procedure, performed in Los Angeles by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, was to address a labrum tear in his left shoulder.

Jerome went under the knife in Philadelphia to address a sports hernia, and Muscala underwent both an arthroscopic procedure and lateral ligament repair on his right ankle in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The timing seemed curious, at first.

The timing seemed curious, at first. With nearly half the team sidelined since the All-Star break, why would three players have surgery on the very same day?

The NFL Combine, it turns out, was to blame. "The physicians that we lean on in those situations are pretty active in sports medicine,” explained head coach Mark Daigneault. “They were all at the NFL Combine, which happened to be the last couple weeks." So with the end of the Combine came the end of the year for several important players.

The Thunder continue to feel their absences on the court. OKC's announcement was followed that Tuesday night by a 142-115 shellacking at the hands of the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks. Dort, Jerome and Muscala are Dort, Jerome and Muscala are hardly the only players missing for OKC. Josh Giddey continues to miss games with hip issues, forcing new faces into the starting lineup like Theo Maledon.

The good news is that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continues to be spectacular. And sometimes he even gets a little help.

Take the Milwaukee game. Gilgeous-Alexander scored another 33 points, with eight rebounds and 14 assists, to boot, leading the team in all three categories. His production took a big step

His production took a big step back, though, on Wednesday during a 132-102 loss to the Timberwolves. Gilgeous-Alexander scored only eight points as Minnesota went out of its way to shut him down all game long. Rookie Aaron Wiggins was the beneficiary of Gilgeous-Alexander's off night, scoring 25 points with nine rebounds, but it wasn't nearly enough to push the Thunder over the top.

Oklahoma City got a rare three-day break after its lackluster performance in Minnesota, returning Sunday evening for a matchup with Memphis at the Paycom Center. Reenergized, Gilgeous-Alexander went off for another 31 points. And he wasn't alone. Darius Bazley, playing with more confidence in the season's second half, went off Sunday for a careerhigh 29 points.

Bazley scored from all levels, including 16 points in the paint and nine from his three 3-pointers. In the end, OKC fell again to the No. 2-seed Grizzlies, 125-118. But it was the most competitive game they'd played all week.

The losses continued on Monday, March 14, with a 134-116 setback to Charlotte in OKC. Gilgeous- Alexander and Bazley paced the team again with 32 and 25 points, respectively. It marked Oklahoma City's sixth consecutive loss, bringing the Thunder to 20-48 for the season. Despite the setback,

Despite the setback, Daigneault praised the Thunder offense and said Bazley has "simplified his game" to become a more effective scorer lately. "He's playing a pretty predictable style that fits into the rest of the team," Daigneault said, "and it's allowing his versatility to kind of rise to the surface.

... He's running, he's cutting, he's rolling, he's shooting spot-up 3s."

"I just think he's learning how to function inside of how we're playing," Daigneault said. "... I would attribute some of his success to the way the team's playing, too."

The Thunder will try to snap the losing streak on Wednesday, March 16 when they head to San Antonio to take on the Spurs and Gregg Popovich, who recently became the winningest regular-season coach in NBA history. Then they'll swing over to the Sunshine State for a Friday matchup with Miami and a Sunday game in Orlando.

There's only a few more weeks of basketball, Thunder fans. Enjoy them, and Thunder Up!