The Oklahoma City Thunder head out West for a brief 2-game road trip, beginning with a stop in San Francisco against the Golden State Warriors. OKC enters 2026 with a 3-game win streak and the best record in the NBA. Meanwhile, the Warriors have struggled to an 18-16 record, but they have won five of their last six games.
OKC has handled the Warriors just fine so far this season, winning both previous meetings by double digits. The Thunder is still without Isaiah Hartenstein and Jaylin Williams, though, but they have played well with smaller lineups recently. The Golden State Warriors are resting Draymond Green, which helps address OKC’s current lack of size. Additionally, Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler are now sitting out, so now the Warriors will rely heavily on a team effort because they don’t have much consistency on offense beyond those two guys.
The Thunder has a tough schedule in January, which includes a 4-game road trip in the middle and no more than a single day off as they play 15 games in 28 days. Kicking it off with a road win against the Warriors would be nice, and with the way the offense has looked recently, they should be able to score against a tough Golden State defense. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continues to score at will, Chet Holmgren is playing some of his best basketball of the season over the last few games, and as a team, the Thunder is shooting much better from three.
On the other end of the floor, though, the Thunder’s defense has yet to perform well against a solid team recently. They did a solid job against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night, but they’re if OKC wants to keep the current win streak going until they get back at home on Monday, the defense is going to have to lock in early in this one.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 9 PM CT
Location: Chase Center (San Francisco, California)
Television: Prime Video
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, Golden State Warriors Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Cason Wallace
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Chet Holmgren
Warriors
- PG: Brandin Podziemski
- SG: Will Richard
- SF: Moses Moody
- PF: Al Horford
- C: Quinten Post
Injury Report
Thunder
- Brooks Barnhizer (G League — two-way) is OUT.
- Ousmane Dieng (strained right calf) is OUT.
- Isaiah Hartenstein (strained left soleus) is OUT.
- Thomas Sorber (right ACL surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Nikola Topic (surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Jaylin Williams (right heel bursitis) is OUT.
Warriors
- Jimmy Butler (illness) is QUESTIONABLE.
- LJ Cryer (G League — two-way) is OUT.
- Seth Curry (left sciatic nerve irritation) is OUT.
- Stephen Curry (sprained left ankle) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Draymond Green (rest) is OUT.
- Al Horford (right sciatic nerve irritation) is PROBABLE.
- Trayce Jackson-Davis (patellar tendonitis in right knee) is PROBABLE.
- Malevy Leons (G League — two-way) is OUT.
- De’Anthony Melton (left knee injury management) is QUESTIONABLE.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 29-32 against the Warriors in the regular season (17-13 at home, 11-19 on the road) and 3-4 in the playoffs (2-1 at home, 1-3 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series with the Warriors 7 times, lost it 8 times, and tied twice.
- The Thunder went 1-2 against the Warriors last season (0-1 at home, 1-1 on the road).
- The Thunder is 2-0 against the Warriors so far this season (1-0 at home, 1-0 on the road).