Oklahoma City Thunder's Most Surprising Players of the Early Season

The Oklahoma City Thunder haven't had much to be happy about this season. 

Injuries have decimated the roster, including the team's top two players in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. They are off to a 3-10 start and are dead last in the West. The offense, once elite, is 29th in scoring, averaging a measly 89.7 points per game.

That's the bad news. This is the good news.

The extended ride on the pain train has opened the door for some of the team's role players to step up. While it may not show in the standings, these unsung heroes have kept OKC competitive in the midst of this rocky start. This temporary moment in the sun has accelerated the development of the supporting cast, and that will make the team stronger as they make a push for a playoff spot.

SF Perry Jones

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Coming into this season, Perry Jones was a former first-round pick out of Baylor that didn't see much of the floor playing behind Kevin Durant. In his first two seasons, PJ3 logged roughly 10 minutes a night. That wasn't expected to change entering his third year in the pros. 

Then, Durant suffered a Jones fracture in his foot, and Jones would finally get his chance to shine. 

After a subpar debut against the Portland Trail Blazers (three points on 1-of-9 shooting), the 23-year-old hit the ground running. He exploded for 32 points in a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, and followed that up by dropping 20 in a win over the Denver Nuggets. 

In the early going, the Thunder allowed Jones to make the most of his opportunity by getting him the ball in positions he could use to his advantage, per Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: 

"

We've been making him get on the block and he’s been using it to his advantage," said center Kendrick Perkins. "When he’s got a 3 he’s shooting it. But we’re making him go down there and post up and ask for the ball. And we just letting Perry play. I like how he’s playing with the toughness, and I think that’s just carrying over.

"

The 6'11", 235-pound combo forward displayed a knack for stroking the long ball, knocking down 33.3 percent of his threes. He was averaging a career-high 15 points per game before he went down with a knee contusion on Nov. 4. 

Jones has yet to return, but he has shown enough in a small sample to earn some more playing time when he comes back. 

PG Sebastian Telfair

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It has been quite a journey for Sebastian Telfair. As the cousin of former New York Knicks star Stephon Marbury, Telfair earned critical acclaim as a high school phenom in Brooklyn. He skipped college and entered the 2004 draft, where he was the No. 13 overall pick by the Portland Trail Blazers. 

Since then, he has bounced around the pros, playing for six other NBA teams before spending a year in China. The Thunder signed Bassy over the summer to be an emergency third point guard. With Russell Westbrook and Reggie Jackson already in the fold, he wasn't supposed to see much playing time.

Fortunately for Telfair, fate intervened.

Jackson suffered an ankle sprain before the season and Westbrook broke a bone in his hand. Now, Jackson is back and Telfair has been getting some run as his backup. 

The 29-year-old has certainly emerged through the fire. He's averaging 8.7 points per game, and has had nights where he has been more efficient than Jackson. In the team's Nov. 19 loss to the Denver Nuggets, Telfair was a perfect 7-of-7 from the floor and finished with 18 points while Jackson scored 16 on 5-of-20 shooting. 

Telfair may not find a lot of playing time once Westbrook returns but, after bouncing around the world for a decade, he may have finally found a home in Oklahoma City. 

SF Lance Thomas

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Lance Thomas' emergence with the Oklahoma City Thunder is one of the best stories of this season. After three ho-hum seasons with the New Orleans Pelicans, Thomas was a shaky bet to make a deep Thunder roster. 

However, through sheer hustle and tenacity, he beat out Michael Jenkins, Richard Solomon and Talib Zanna for the final roster spot. Now, he's one of just six Oklahoma City players to appear in all 13 games.

"You ever want to see how to make a team," center Kendrick Perkins said, per Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. "write a book on Lance Thomas."

Thomas' numbers (7.2 points, 4.5 rebounds) won't jump out at you. He'll have his moments like the 15-point outing against the Houston Rockets on Nov. 16 or when he pulled down 13 boards against the Boston Celtics on Nov. 12, but it is his heart and energy that stand out the most. 

"Lance is a hard worker," head coach Scott Brooks said, per NBA.com's Nick Gallo. "He’s a player that can guard multiple positions. He gives you everything he has and that’s what you want."

In a sense, Thomas is the embodiment of this current Thunder roster. He's a scrappy fighter that refuses to quit despite any perceived limitations. He's a 6'8", 225-pound 'tweener forward that hasn't let his lack of ideal size keep him from being a key contributor on a potential championship contender. 

Going forward, Thomas' willingness to go the extra mile will come in handy. 

C Kendrick Perkins

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This had the makings of being a rough year for Kendrick Perkins. He was coming off one of the worst seasons of his career (3.4 points, 4.9 rebounds), and suffered a quad injury right before training camp. On top of that, he had a younger, more athletic competitor (with a better mustache) in Steven Adams fighting to take his starting center job away from him. 

After a solid preseason, Adams would get the nod in the starting rotation, leaving some to wonder what the Thunder would do with an offensively-limited 30-year-old backup center entering his walk year. Rather than sulk, Perkins did the best thing he could do. 

He stepped his game up. 

While the big Texan hasn't been the second coming of Wilt Chamberlain, his offensive production has shown signs of life. His 4.7 points per game is his best scoring output since the 2011-12 season. On Nov. 1, he dropped 17 points on the Denver Nuggets, which was his best performance since Feb. 8, 2013. 

Defensively, he's been the same stingy Perk. According to 82games.com, opponents are shooting 45.1 percent against the big fella. When he's off the court, that number jumps to 50.4 percent. 

Perkins' contributions off the bench have been one of the biggest surprises of the season. Nearly 10 months after ESPN's Tom Haberstroh (subscription required) named him the league's "Least Valuable Player", Perkins is suddenly hearing MVP chants (albeit, in his own head). 

PG Reggie Jackson

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Reggie Jackson entered his contract year wanting to be a starter. The Oklahoma City Thunder thought otherwise, relegating the Boston College product to a sixth man role and giving the starting shooting guard job to Andre Roberson. 

The team also let the Oct. 31 deadline pass without an extension for the 24-year-old point guard. 

Then, Russell Westbrook got hurt and Jackson got the starting job he'd been pining for.

In 10 games this season, Jackson has displayed the dynamic scoring ability that make it necessary for the Thunder to keep him, as well as the selfishness that could lead to the club letting him walk.

"Good" Reggie is the guy averaging 19.8 points per game, willing the team to victory like he did with his 28-point performance against the Celtics on Nov. 12. 

"Bad" Reggie is the ball hog that drew the ire of teammates Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins, who froze Jackson out during his season debut against the Brooklyn Nets, per Mayberry. There has also been Jackson's unfortunate knack for taking poor shots in close games, such as his ill-advised three-point attempt in a close loss to the Houston Rockets. 

DailyThunder.com's Royce Young may have summed that moment up best:

"

Any other player, you’d just chalk up the horrific shot to inexperience in that moment, and maybe a bit of panic. But with Jackson, there’s always something more to read in to. He so desperately wants to prove he’s worthy of being a star(ter) that he was willing to do what so many other Wannabe Stars, like J.R. Smiths of the word, tend to do. He wants to shoulder the responsibility, he wants to take and make the big shots. He failed against the Pistons and proceeded to assign all the blame for the loss to himself, so when it came down to the Thunder tying up the Rockets, let the play call be damned — Reggie was gon’ Reggie

"

Jackson clearly didn't learn from that mistake. In the team's recent loss to the Nuggets, Jackson took a contested three in an attempt to tie the game, completely ignoring a wide-open Ibaka (as pointed out by Young on Twitter). 

Jackson's emergence has been a nice surprise, and he has certainly proven himself worthy of being a starter somewhere in this league. He's doing his best with the burden of playing for a new contract with an injured-filled roster.

However, the obsession with being the hero offsets his gaudy stats, and it will be those moments of selfishness that people will remember more than his production.