The Oklahoma City Thunder returns home on Friday night after a quick back-to-back up North, and they will be hosting Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. After a handful of players sat out on Wednesday against the Detroit Pistons, OKC continues to get near full strength as many return, including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has missed the last 9 games with an abdominal strain.
SGA is still the leading candidate for MVP, but right behind him is Nikola Jokic. Both have missed time this season, but they are still in the running for postseason awards as long as they don’t miss 17 total games. Shai can afford to miss 6 more, but Jokic can only miss one.
These two teams have plenty of history over the last couple of years, and after OKC bounced Denver from the playoffs last season, there is plenty of bad blood that remains. While this meeting doesn’t carry the same weight as a playoff matchup, particularly due to the injuries on both sides, it should still provide plenty of entertainment for a Friday night of watching basketball.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 8:30 PM CT
Location: Paycom Center (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
Television: ESPN
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, Denver Nuggets Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Cason Wallace
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Chet Holmgren
- C: Isaiah Hartenstein
Nuggets
- PG: Jamal Murray
- SG: Christian Braun
- SF: Julian Strawther
- PF: Cameron Johnson
- C: Nikola Jokic
Injury Report
Thunder
- Branden Carlson (strained lower back) is OUT.
- Ajay Mitchell (strained abdominal) is OUT.
- Thomas Sorber (right ACL surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Jalen Williams (strained right hamstring) is OUT.
Nuggets
- Tamar Bates (left foot surgery) is OUT.
- Aaron Gordon (strained right hamstring) is OUT.
- Curtis Jones (G League — two-way) is OUT.
- Spencer Jones (strained right shoulder) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Jamal Murray (illness) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Jalen Pickett (right knee soreness) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Julian Strawther (sprained left great toe) is PROBABLE.
- Peyton Watson (strained right hamstring) is OUT.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 31-35 against the Nuggets in the regular season (18-16 at home, 13-19 on the road) and 7-4 in the Playoffs (6-1 at home, 2-3 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series with the Nuggets 7 times, lost it 8 times, and tied it twice.
- The Thunder went 2-2 against the Nuggets in the regular season last year (1-1 at home, 1-1 on the road).
- OKC defeated Denver 4-3 in the Western Conference Semifinals last year (3-1 at home, 1-2 on the road).
- OKC is 1-0 against Denver so far this season (0-0 at home, 1-0 on the road).