Steven Adams is producing the best month of his career

Steven Adams has chosen the festive season to bust out all the surprises as he soars to dominance for his Oklahoma side. Photo / AP

It's Christmas time in the NBA and Steven Adams is making sure he pulls out all the surprises for his Oklahoma team.

A third of the way through the current NBA season, Adams is already ahead on his career averages, but he's chosen December as the month to explode out of the gate.

So far, the Thunder have played seven games this month. And in six of those games, Adams has scored double digits.

That includes a career-high 24 points against Houston two weeks ago.

He's now averaging 14.6 points this December, nearly three points ahead of his season average of 11.9 and eight points ahead of his career-average of 6.8.

Somewhere in the mix, he's also become a regular light-fingered bandit.

He's got 11 steals in the seven December games - average of 1.6 a game - up from his career average of 0.6.

And while his rebounding is slightly down in December - 6.7 per game compared to his season-average 7.5 - he's increased his shooting percentage.

He's shooting at .683 per cent in December - ahead of his .585 season average.

He also attempted just the third three-pointer of his career. He was unsuccessful unfortunately...

But Adams is not alone.

Clearly those around him have picked up their game too, with star Russell Westbrook averaging a triple-double, not just through December, but the entire season.

He's jumping higher than Adams, it would seem, grabbing nearly four more boards than the Kiwi in every game.

Surprisingly, however, Westbrook, who is notorious for his thieving hands, is behind Adams for steals per game through December - Westbrook has just 1.4 to Adams 1.6.

Regardless of their own internal competitiveness, the Thunder are making a real case for being a strong playoff team.

While not ranked high up the standings at this point in the season - currently seventh in the Western Conference - they could become the low-seeded playoff team that no one wants to play.