Floor spacing:
A. The Thunder needed a shooter. Abrines provided shooting. He made 38.1 percent of his 3-pointers and got much better after a slow start. Abrines made just 27.3 percent of his 3-pointers through November but made 43.8 percent over the next three months. Abrines made Anthony Morrow expendable, leading to the trade that brought Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott. Believe it or not, Abrines was part of the NBA's best offensive lineup — Russell Westbrook, Steven Adams, Enes Kanter, Andre Roberson and Abrines averaged 142.8 points per 48 minutes together, the most of any five-man unit in the league that played at least 70 minutes.