The Oklahoma City Thunder’s historic start to the 2025-26 season continues on Friday night as they travel to Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Jazz. The Thunder is just the second team in NBA history to start the season with a 15-1 record, alongside Michael Jordan and the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls. That Bulls squad won 17 games before their second loss, something that OKC may very well surpass in the next week.
Tonight’s matchup with the Jazz isn’t of much concern as OKC is once again heavily favored. Utah has won just 3 of their last 11 games on their way to a 4-9 record overall. Still, the Thunder preach a ‘0-0’ mentality, so you can expect them to treat this with the same importance of every other game. Utah has fared dramatically better at home than on the road, so better energy should be expected from the Jazz, but the Thunder is no ordinary team coming into the Delta Center.
This matchup feels like another opportunity for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to sit out the fourth quarter, but they must get off to a stronger start than they did on Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings. It wasn’t until that typical third-quarter surge from OKC that the Thunder was able to pull away by double digits and maintain a solid lead to end.
Utah is a young squad that can move the ball well. This can add up to a lot of assisted baskets, but at the same time, it always leads to a high number of turnovers. One key ingredient in OKC’s recipe for success over the last couple seasons has been turning teams over and scoring on the other end. Do that tonight against the Jazz, and it will likely be a blowout win for the Thunder.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 8:30 PM CT
Location: Delta Center (Salt Lake City, Utah)
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, Utah Jazz Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Cason Wallace
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Chet Holmgren
- C: Isaiah Hartenstein
Jazz
- PG: Keyonte George
- SG: Svi Mykhailuk
- SF: Ace Bailey
- PF: Lauri Markannen
- C: Jusuf Nurkic
Injury Report
Thunder
- Branden Carlson (nasal fracture) 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.
- Kenrich Williams (left knee surgical recovery) is OUT.
Jazz
- Kyle Filipowski (sprained right wrist) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Walker Kessler (left shoulder injury recovery) is OUT.
- Georges Niang (stress reaction in the fourth metatarsal of the left foot).
- John Tonje (G Leageu — two-way) is OUT.
- Oscar Tshiebwe (G Leageu — two-way) is OUT.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 42-21 (26-6 at home, 16-15 on the road) against the Jazz in the regular season and 2-4 (2-1 at home, 0-3 on the road) in the playoffs.
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series against the Jazz 13 times, lost it 3 times, and tied once.
- The Thunder went 4-0 against the Jazz last season (2-0 at home, 2-0 on the road).
- OKC has won 10 of the last 11 meetings with Utah, including 4 of the previous 5 in Salt Lake City.