The Oklahoma City Thunder will wrap up their preseason play on Thursday night as they host Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks at the Paycom Center. The Thunder is fresh off a 124-94 dismantling of the Denver Nuggets thanks primarily due to defense that turned into offense, and they now hold a 4-1 record in the preseason. The Hawks enter this matchup at 1-2 in the preseason after a 120-111 loss in Miami last night against the Heat.
The Thunder’s rotation will likely look similar to what we will see to start the regular season, at least in the first half of the game, but OKC will be missing new signee Isaiah Hartenstein, who suffered a displaced fracture in his hand in the game against the Nuggets on Tuesday. Hartenstein has looked solid in his preseason play, averaging 7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists, a steal, and a block in just under 18 minutes of play. He will be re-evaluated in 5-6 weeks.
As for tonight’s game, the Thunder will need to pick up where they left off on Tuesday by pressing a talented Hawks offense into turnovers. The Thunder was able to turn 24 Denver turnovers into 38 points, and that was really the tale of the game. Trae Young and Jalen Johnson led the Hawks early in last night’s game against the Heat, but the tide turned when they went out of the game. Atlanta has several talents on the team, but they are not very deep, and that is where they will get into trouble playing teams like OKC, who has a lot of depth.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 7 PM CT
Location: Paycom Center (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
Television: Bally Sports Oklahoma
Radio: WWLS 98.1FM OKC The Sports Animal
Twitter: Follow @ZacharyLowNBA for live tweets and discussion during the game
Game Notes: Oklahoma City Thunder Official Game Notes, Atlanta Hawks Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Alex Caruso
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Chet Holmgren
Hawks
- PG: Trae Young
- SG: Dyson Daniels
- SF: DeAndre Hunter
- PF: Jalen Johnson
- C: Clint Capela
Injury Report
Thunder
- Isaiah Hartenstein (fractured left hand) is OUT.
- Nikola Topic (left ACL surgery recovery) is OUT.
- Jaylin Williams (strained right hamstring) is OUT.
- Kenrich Williams (right knee surgery recovery) is OUT.
Hawks
- Clint Capela (right ankle soreness) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Seth Lundy (sprained ankle) is OUT.
- Dominick Barlow (unknown) is OUT.
- Onyeka Okongwu (toe procedure recovery) is OUT.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 17-13 against the Hawks (10-5 at home, 7-8 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series against the Hawks 5 times, lost it 3 times, and tied 8 times.
- The Thunder went 1-1 against the Hawks last season (1-0 at home, 0-1 on the road).