After acquiring Paul George and Carmelo Anthony last offseason, the Thunder were supposed to be one of the top threats to the Warriors in the Western Conference.

The season, obviously, didn’t go as planned.

Oklahoma City finished with a 48-34 regular season record and lost their first round playoff series against the Jazz in six games.

It’s a new season, though, and the Thunder team comes into the season believing they have a lot to prove, especially Paul George.

George mentioned that very fact, as relayed by Brett Dawson of The Athletic earlier this week.

“The fact of the matter is, we were a first-round exit team,” George said. “We got a lot to prove and a lot to play for this year.”

Now, it’ll be up to the Thunder to carry that mentality over onto the court throughout the upcoming season.

With Westbrook on the shelf, Dawson points out that the Thunder may be able to hit the ground running thanks to a “forgiving” strength of schedule.

The schedule is relatively forgiving early. OKC plays 13 of its first 22 games at home and plays only three road games against likely playoff teams before Dec. 12. That puts the onus on OKC to start fast and pick up steam before January, when the schedule takes a challenging turn. To do so, the Thunder can’t afford to fall back on Westbrook’s absence for a slow start.

With Dennis Schroder expected to fill in, the Thunder hope they won’t skip a beat.