The Oklahoma City Thunder has begun the 2025-26 campaign on fire, rolling to a franchise-best 12-1 start after wins against the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers in back-to-back nights earlier this week. Now they have a dip in the schedule against some bottom-tier teams in the league, starting with the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night.
The Hornets have been stuck in a perpetual rebuild for a while now, but they have a lot of young talent. Unfortunately for them, they have continuous health issues, particularly with star guard LaMelo Ball. At 4-8, the Hornets have maintained a solid level of competition, taking the Milwaukee Bucks to overtime last night before falling 147-134.
Oklahoma City is still waiting to get healthy, but in the meantime, they have fared well behind their incredibly deep bench. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is continuing his dominance as the reigning MVP, but seeing pretty much everybody on the roster improve from last season has made a huge impact already. Cason Wallace has consistently been the most dominant defender on the floor with Luguentz Dort missing time, and Ajay Mitchell—the favorite to win the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year—is having a fantastic second season filling in as a starter when needed.
The focus in games like this is to take care of the ball, continue to get better, and play an efficient and clean game. OKC is heavily favored, and if they can maintain the energy—particularly on the defensive end—that they have become known for, then this should be an easy win.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 6 PM CT
Location: Spectrum Center (Charlotte, North Carolina)
Television: FanDuel Sports Network – 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, Charlotte Hornets Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Cason Wallace
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Chet Holmgren
- C: Isaiah Hartenstein
Hornets
- PG: Collin Sexton
- SG: Sion James
- SF: Kon Kneuppel
- PF: Miles Bridges
- C: Ryan Kalkbrenner
Injury Report
Thunder
- Luguentz Dort (strained right upper trap) is AVAILABLE.
- Thomas Sorber (right ACL surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Nikola Topic (surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Aaron Wiggins (strained left adductor) is OUT.
- Jalen Williams (right wrist surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Jaylin Williams (left shoulder soreness) is OUT.
- Kenrich Williams (left knee surgical recovery) is OUT.
Hornets
- LaMelo Ball (right ankle impingement) is OUT.
- Josh Green (left shoulder surgery) is OUT.
- Liam McNeely (illness) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Brandon Miller (left shoulder sublaxation) is OUT.
- Drew Peterson (G League — two-way) is OUT.
- Tidjane Salaun (G League — on assignment) is OUT.
- KJ Simpson (sprained left AC joint) is PROBABLE.
- Grant Williams (right knee surgery) is OUT.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 21-10 against the Hornets (11-5 at home, 10-5 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the regular-season series against the Hornets 9 times, lost it 3 times, and tied it 5 times.
- The Thunder went 2-0 against the Hornets last season (1-0 at home, 1-0 on the road).
- The Thunder has won the last 4 meetings with the Hornets.