2011–12 Oklahoma City Thunder season

The 2011–12 Oklahoma City Thunder season was the 4th season of the franchise's existence in Oklahoma City as a member of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Thunder continued to build on recent success in previous years by making the NBA Playoffs and advancing to the NBA Finals. Other season highlights included forward Kevin Durant's third consecutive NBA scoring title, and Durant being named the MVP of the All-Star Game.

Key dates

• June 23: The 2011 NBA draft took place at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.^[1]

Draft picks

In contrast to 2010, the NBA draft for the Thunder on June 23, 2011 held little drama. After previously trading their 2011 second-round pick to the Miami Heat,^[2] the Thunder were left with only the No. 24 overall pick. They used it to acquire rights to Reggie Jackson, a guard from Boston College.^[3]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	24	Reggie Jackson	PG	United States	Boston College

Roster

2011–12 Oklahoma City Thunder roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From 6.0 !C 45 Aldrich, Cole 7000210820000000000♠6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 245 lb (111 kg) 000000001988-10-31-0000October 31, 1988 Kansas 4.5 !PF 4 Collison, Nick 7000208279999999999♠6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 255 lb (116 kg) 000000001980-10-26-0000October 26, 1980 Kansas 2.0 !SG 14 Cook, Daequan 7000195580000000000♠6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 000000001987-04-28-0000April 28, 1987 Ohio State 3.0 !SF 35 Durant, Kevin (C) 7000205740000000000♠6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 000000001988-09-29-0000September 29, 1988 Texas 1.0 !PG 37 Fisher, Derek 7000185420000000000♠6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 000000001974-08-09-0000August 9, 1974 Arkansas–Little Rock 2.0 !SG 13 Harden, James 7000195580000000000♠6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 000000001989-08-26-0000August 26, 1989 Arizona State 3.0 !SF 11 Hayward, Lazar 7000198120000000000♠6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 000000001986-11-26-0000November 26, 1986 Marquette 4.5 !PF 9 Ibaka, Serge 7000208279999999999♠6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 000000001989-09-18-0000September 18, 1989 Spain 1.0 !PG 7 Ivey, Royal 7000193040000000000♠6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 000000001981-12-20-0000December 20, 1981 Texas 1.0 !PG 15 Jackson, Reggie 7000190500000000000♠6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 208 lb (94 kg) 000000001990-04-16-0000April 16, 1990 Boston C 1.0 !PG 6 Maynor, Eric  7000190500000000000♠6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 000000001987-06-11-0000June 11, 1987 Virginia Commonwealth 6.0 !C 8 Mohammed, Nazr 7000208279999999999♠6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 250 lb (113 kg) 000000001977-09-05-0000September 5, 1977 Kentucky 6.0 !C 5 Perkins, Kendrick 7000208279999999999♠6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 267 lb (121 kg) 000000001984-11-10-0000November 10, 1984 Clifton J. Ozen HS (TX) 2.0 !SG 2 Sefolosha, Thabo 7000200659999999999♠6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 000000001984-05-02-0000May 2, 1984 Switzerland 1.0 !PG 0 Westbrook, Russell (C) 7000190500000000000♠6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 187 lb (85 kg) 000000001988-11-12-0000November 12, 1988 UCLA	Head coach Scott Brooks Assistant coach(es) Mark Bryant Maurice Cheeks Rex Kalamian Brian Keefe Maz Trakh Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended (DL) On assignment to D-League affiliate Injured Roster Last transaction: March 21, 2012

Pre-season

Regular season

Standings

c – clinched regular-season conference lead
x – clinched playoff spot
y – clinched division

Game log

Playoffs

Game log

Awards, records and milestones

Awards

Weekly

• Westbrook was named Western Conference Player of the Week for January 23–29,^[4] and February 6–12.^[5]
• Kevin Durant was named Western Conference Player of the Week for December 25 – January 1,^[6] February 13–19,^[7] and March 19–25.^[8]

Monthly

• Kevin Durant was named Western Conference Player of the Month for February^[9] and March^[10] 2012.
• Coach Scott Brooks was named Coach of the Month for games played in December and January.^[11]

All-Star

• Durant was named as a starter for the Western Conference in the 2012 NBA All-Star Game played in Orlando, earning the game's MVP Award.^[12]
• Russell Westbrook was selected as an All-Star team reserve by a vote of the Western Conference coaches.
• Thunder Coach Scott Brooks coached the Western Conference team in the All-Star Game due to the fact that the Thunder lead the Western Conference in winning percentage heading into the All-Star break.^[13]

Season

• Durant won the regular season scoring title by averaging 28.0 points per game, making him only the seventh player in NBA history to win three scoring titles in a row.^[14]
• Reserve guard James Harden was a runaway winner of the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award, garnering 115 of 119 first-place votes.^[15]
• Durant was voted to the All-NBA First Team for the third year in a row, whereas Westbrook was voted to the All-NBA Second Team for the second year in a row.^[16]
• Forward Serge Ibaka was voted to the All-NBA Defensive First Team.^[17]

Records

Most Points In A Single Finals Game: Kevin Durant with 40

Injuries and surgeries

Backup point guard Eric Maynor suffered a season-ending torn ACL in his right knee in action at Houston on January 7.^[18]

Starting shooting guard Thabo Sefolosha suffered from a chronic sore right foot, forcing him to miss 23 games from January 30 through March 13.^[19]

Shooting guard Daequan Cook suffered a mild MCL sprain in his right knee against the Utah Jazz on March 20, sidelining him for an estimated 2–3 weeks.^[20]

Guard James Harden was diagnosed with concussive symptoms after being elbowed in the back of the head on April 22 by Lakers forward Metta World Peace. Harden was cleared to play for the Thunder's regular season finale against the Denver Nuggets after undergoing NBA-mandated post-concussion tests, but instead sat out until the first game of the playoffs. World Peace received a seven-game suspension for the incident.^[21]

Transactions

Current roster

On June 28, 2011, the Thunder exercised its fourth-year options on guard James Harden, forward Serge Ibaka, guard Eric Maynor and center Byron Mullens, as well as its third-year option on center Cole Aldrich.^[22]

On June 29, 2011, the Thunder signed center Nazr Mohammed to a one-year extension through 2011–12, avoiding his becoming an unrestricted free agent.^[23] Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but reported to be $3,750,000 for the year.^[24]

On June 27, 2011, the Thunder provided guard Daequan Cook a qualifying offer of $3,126,764 for 2011–12, making Cook a restricted free agent under the terms of the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement set to expire after June 30, 2011.^[24][25] Cook's contract situation was resolved after the NBA lockout when the Thunder signed him to a contract extension paying him $6.5 million through the end of the 2012–13 season.^[26]

On December 13, 2011, the Thunder traded Robert Vaden and two conditional second-round draft selections to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Lazar Hayward.^[27]

Free agents

On March 21, 2012, the Thunder signed point guard Derek Fisher for the remainder of the 2012 season, after waiving its second-round 2010 draft pick forward Ryan Reid.^[28] Fisher had previously been traded form the Los Angeles Lakers to the Houston Rockets on March 15, but the Rockets subsequently bought out Fisher's contract making him an unrestricted free agent.

Transaction summary table

Date	Transaction Type	Thunder Acquired	Thunder Gave Up
December 11, 2011	Draftee signing	• Reggie Jackson
December 12, 2011	Draftee signing	• Ryan Reid
December 13, 2011	Roster trade	• Lazar Hayward	• Robert Vaden (to Minnesota) • two conditional second-round picks (to Minnesota)
December 19, 2011	Roster trade	• 2013 second-round pick	• Byron Mullens (to Charlotte)
December 24, 2011	Waiver		• Nate Robinson
March 21, 2012	Free Agent Signing	• Derek Fisher
March 21, 2012	Waiver		• Ryan Reid

References

External links

• Oklahoma City Thunder official site