Coming out of the All-Star Break, the Oklahoma City Thunder sits atop the Western Conference standings with a 42-14 record. Last season, OKC was 44-10 at the break. The records are pretty similar, but the way the Thunder arrived at each had some differences, with the big one being the number of missed games due to injury this season compared to last.
Sure, guys missed big chunks of last season, namely Chet Holmgren, but Jalen Williams has missed a significant number already this season, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s number continues to increase as fans patiently await both of their returns to the court. While some look at the current situation—OKC holding a narrow 2.5 game lead in the standings over the San Antonio Spurs—as worrisome, perhaps this is a really good opportunity for some other guys to figure out a way to step up when the typical stars may not be able to.
Tonight, the Thunder hosts the Brooklyn Nets in the first game in a week, and it should serve as a nice palate cleanser after a pretty rough loss to the Milwaukee Bucks before All-Star Weekend. SGA and JDub remain out, and Ajay Mitchell should be returning sooner rather than later, but for now, it will be up to a rotation of other guards to hold down the backcourt. Brooklyn is just 15-39 on the season, and they’re well on their way to playoff elimination, so regardless of who is healthy for OKC, the Thunder should be able to score a convincing win in front of the home crowd ahead of some much tougher opponents in the next week.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 7 PM CT
Location: Paycom Center (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
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, Brooklyn Nets Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Cason Wallace
- SG: Isaiah Joe
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Chet Holmgren
- C: Jaylin Williams
Nets
- PG: Nolan Traore
- SG: Egor Demin
- SF: Michael Porter Jr.
- PF: Noah Clowney
- C: Day’Ron Sharpe
Injury Report
Thunder
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (strained abdominal) is OUT.
- Ajay Mitchell (strained abdominal) is OUT.
- Thomas Sorber (right ACL surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Jalen Williams (strained right hamstring) is QUESTIONABLE.
Nets
- Nic Claxton (sprained right ankle) is OUT.
- Tyson Etienne (G League – two-way) is OUT.
- Chaney Johnson (G League — two-way) is OUT.
- E.J. Liddell (G League — two-way) is OUT.
- Josh Minott (G League — on assignment) is OUT.
- Ben Saraf (G League – on assignment) is OUT.
- Ziaire Williams (personal reasons) is OUT.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 21-10 against the Nets (10-5 at home, 11-5 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series against the Nets 8 times, lost it once, and tied 7 times.
- The Thunder went 2-0 against the Nets last season (1-0 at home, 1-0 on the road).