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Oklahoma City Thunder -
Graham Dudley
We're back, Thunder fans!
Welcome to The Graham Jam, your weekly look at all things Oklahoma City Thunder basketball. Now that the All-Star break has passed and we're entering the home stretch of the season, allow me to thank you for coming on this journey with me. Let's have some fun with these last few weeks.
The Thunder sure are having fun. They defeated the Indiana Pacers Friday night in overtime, 129-125, in a thrilling back-and-forth contest that saw both teams overcome double-digit leads. Oklahoma City looked to have the game in the bag in the final seconds, only to have Pacers favorite Lance Stephenson splash a 3-pointer from the corner with 1.6 seconds to play. But OKC got the last laugh.
Or did they? We'll discuss, along with a new player profile and a look at the Thunder's point-guard drama. Let's go!
Last week
Phoenix 124, Thunder 104 (2/24 HOME)
Thunder 129, Indiana 125 (2/25 AWAY)
Who's On Point?
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looks like his old self.
Fresh off a 10-game absence due to ankle problems, Gilgeous-Alexander returned to the Thunder lineup Thursday and promptly dropped 32 points on the Phoenix Suns. Then he turned around and scored 36 the following night in an overtime win in Indianapolis.
If something is bothering Gilgeous-Alexander, you'd never know from his play on the court. But some eyebrows were raised Thursday night when, after the Phoenix loss, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said that rookie Josh Giddey will be playing on-ball more often for the rest of the season.
Which makes a ton of sense. Giddey flourished during SGA's absence, picking up triple-doubles in three consecutive games just before the break. His vision and passing, coupled with above-average height for the position, make him the platonic ideal of a point guard.
But SGA has made no secret of his desire to play the point. On Thursday, Gilgeous-Alexander said playing off-ball is not his "plan A," but understands he'll have to "sacrifice" for team success.
"Josh was really good the last few weeks, obviously. Me, as a player, I don't want to hinder that at all," Gilgeous-Alexander told the media. "... I know to be one of the best teams in the league, which we want to be very soon, you've got to have multiple guys that can play on ball."
Gilgeous-Alexander played primarily off the ball as recently as 2019-2020, when Chris Paul commandeered the OKC offense. "It's something that, you have to sacrifice to be a really good team," he said. "I know that. I learned that early on in my career with that team."
Gilgeous-Alexander said the right things, but seemed flat and emotionless during the conference, and was even hard to hear. But it's impossible to say whether he was actually upset, much less upset about his changing role; his team just lost, after all.
Daigneault maintained that night, and the next day before the Indiana game, that letting Giddey run the point more often was always part of the plan. "We want to be a team that has multiple attackers," he said, stressing that the Thunder have many players who can bring the ball up. He also said this "evolution" is "consistent with how we've been coaching ... all year."
In the end, this seems like nothing more than a minor philosophical difference between a coach and his star player. If SGA had his way, would he run the offense like Chris Paul or Steve Nash? Yeah, probably, and he's said as much in the past.
But given the Thunder personnel – and the fact that they now have a better point guard on the same roster – it makes little sense to play with such rigid, defined roles. OKC's drive-and-kick offense will give many players a chance to create, score and contribute. If the last two games are any indication, playing "off ball" more often will do nothing but help Gilgeous-Alexander's stats.
Get to know: Olivier Sarr
When Oklahoma City released Paul Watson Jr. and signed Aaron Wiggins to a full contract, that left both its two-way spots unfilled. OKC used one of those spots on Lindy Waters III, who we met in a previous newsletter.
Last week the team announced its other two-way spot would go to Olivier Sarr, a French forward who appeared in two Thunder games earlier this year during the team's COVID crunch.
Other than his Thunder stint, Sarr has spent much of the season with the Oklahoma City Blue, OKC's G League affiliate, where he appeared in 23 games with two starts. Sarr averaged 7.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists in just under 16 minutes per game for the Blue.
The numbers are solid, but unspectacular. Sarr's primary appeal for the Thunder is his size – he is 6-11 and 238 pounds, and will help fill a void on the OKC frontcourt.
Aleksej Pokusevski is taller than Sarr, but offers no rim protection with his slight frame. Mike Muscala and Kenrich Williams, two bench forwards, are currently missing time with injury. The OKC rotation is thin, and Sarr has proven capable of giving NBA minutes. He logged a whopping 21.5 of them Friday versus Indiana, scoring four points with four rebounds.
Sarr is originally from Niort, France, joining Theo Maledon as the Thunder's French contingent. He attended college at Wake Forest before transferring to Kentucky for one season. Sarr averaged more than 25 minutes for the Wildcats last year, scoring 10.8 points and grabbing 5.2 boards per game.
Tank Time
Friday's overtime thriller was classic a classic "good news, bad news" situation for Oklahoma City. The good news is that the team won and it was a lot of fun watching them do it. The bad news is that Indiana is now nipping on OKC's heels for the fourth-worst record in the NBA.
Oklahoma City is currently 19-41 and Indiana is 21-41, having defeated Boston on Sunday. The difference between the fourth- and fifth-worst records in the lottery is worth 2 percentage points – a 12.5% chance to pick No. 1 versus a 10.5% chance. For now, the Thunder still have the better odds.
Let's run this week's simulation on Tankathon.com:
1. Orlando
2. San Antonio (+5 from current record)
3. Oklahoma City (+1)
4. Houston (-1)
5. Detroit (-3)
6. Indiana (-1)
7. Sacramento (-1)
8. Portland (via New Orleans)
9. New York
10. Portland
11. Washington
12. Memphis (via LA Lakers)
13. Atlanta
14. Charlotte
Not bad at all! With three-plus elite talents at the top of this draft, No. 3 would be a fantastic place to land.
That's all from me this week, folks. Thanks so much for spending another Monday morning with us. We'll see you in the newspaper later this week. Thunder Up!
This week
2/28: Thunder vs. Sacramento (7 p.m., Bally Sports Oklahoma)
2/2: Thunder @ Denver (8 p.m., BSOK)
2/4: Thunder vs. Minnesota (7 p.m., BSOK)
2/6: Thunder vs. Utah (6 p.m., BSOK)