The Oklahoma City Thunder was without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Friday night as they dropped a 106-98 decision to the Mavericks in Dallas. SGA suffered a sprained wrist after a fall in the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night, and he is questionable for Sunday night’s matchup in OKC against the Brooklyn Nets.
SGA has missed just the one game all season long, and I would expect him to play against the Nets, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him take the night off and get an extra few days of rest before the Thunder plays again on Wednesday. Regardless of whether he plays, the Thunder are the better team top to bottom, and they should be able to handle the Nets just fine.
Oklahoma City has lost consecutive games just once this season, and the Thunder tends to dominate whoever they play immediately following a loss. Brooklyn is a team in the middle of trying to find their way, and they’re one of the more injury-depleted teams in the league at that. Jalen Williams did not have the best game against the Mavs on Friday night, but if he plays, he may have another opportunity to play without Shai again tonight. Regardless, OKC legitimately just needs to show up and play their style of basketball to win this game handily.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 6PM CT
Location: Paycom Center (Oklahoma city, Oklahoma)
Television: Fanduel Sports TV
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, Brooklyn Nets Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Cason Wallace
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Jaylin Williams
Nets
- PG: Ben Simmons
- SG: Keon Johnson
- SF: Ziaire Williams
- PF: Cameron Johnson
- C: Nic Claxton
Injury Report
Thunder
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (sprained right wrist) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Isaiah Hartenstein (strained left soleus) is OUT.
- Chet Holmgren (fractured right iliac wing) is OUT.
- Ajay Mitchell (right great toe surgery) is OUT.
- Nikola Topic (left knee surgery) is OUT.
- Jalen Williams (strained right hip) is OUT.
Nets
- Bojan Bogdanovic (left foot injury recovery) is OUT.
- Cameron Johnson (sprained right ankle) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Maxwell Lewis (fractured left tibia) is OUT.
- De’Anthony Melton (ACL tear in left knee) is OUT.
- Cam Thomas (strained left hamstring) is OUT.
- Trendon Watford (strained left hamstring) is OUT.
- Dariq Whitehead (G League — on assignment) is OUT.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 19-10 against the Nets (9-5 at home, 10-5 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series against the Nets 7 times, lost it once, and tied 7 times.
- The Thunder went 1-1 against the Nets last season (1-0 at home, 0-1 on the road).