<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Sixers-Thunder-Joel-Embiid-Seth-Curry.jpg"></figure><h1>Philadelphia 76ers: Three observations from win vs. Thunder</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-24T22:48:10-07:00">October 24th, 10:48pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-24T22:49:36-07:00">October 24th, 10:49pm</time><address><a>Kevin McCormick</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Philadelphia 76ers took the court Sunday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder, looking to bounce back from a late-game loss against the Brooklyn Nets. The Sixers held the Thunder at bay for the majority of the game and staved off a rally in the fourth quarter to win by a <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameId=401359862">final score of 115-1o3</a>. </p><p>Here are some observations from the Sixers victory. </p><h2><b>Three-point shooting battle </b></h2><p>In today’s game, the three-point shot has become a focal point of most NBA offenses. The Sixers have been average at best when letting it fly from deep, but that was not the case against the Thunder. Not only did they get 41 attempts from beyond the arc, but connected on 17 of them for 41.5 percent.</p><p>Three-point shooting was a major factor in the contest. The Sixers got hot early from deep and managed to not surrender many triples. The Thunder hit half as many three-pointers, knocking down just eight of their 31 attempts for 25.8 percent. </p><p>With the offense centered around Joel Embiid more than ever, outside shooting is going to be crucial. If the Sixers can continue to shoot at a clip like this, it will drastically open the floor for the All-Star big man. </p><h2><b>Joel Embiid continues to do it all </b></h2><p>Heading into the matchup, Embiid was a game-time decision. Not only did last season’s MVP runner-up take the floor, but he turned in a good night at the office. </p><p>When all was said and done, Embiid tallied 22 points, nine rebounds, six assists, one steal, and three blocks. Through three games, he has done an incredible job of filling up the box score and doing it all for the Sixers on both ends. </p><p>We have gotten a small glimpse of a system fully focused around Embiid, and it is scary. After being one of the most dominant players in the league last year, he looks to be taking another step in his game. He has maintained his dominance as a scorer but continues to get better at facilitating at the elbows and around the rim. </p><p>There is no telling how long things will be catered to Embiid like they are now, but we should just enjoy the ride. </p><h2><b>Seth Curry continues to shoot the lights out </b></h2><p>Another early standout for the Sixers this season has been Curry. The sharpshooting guard <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/sixers-news-stephen-curry-comparisons-boldly-rejected-by-seth-curry/">started off scorching hot</a> against the Thunder and finished as the team’s leading scorer for the second straight game. </p><p>In the first quarter alone, Curry scored 23 of his 28 points. He did so with incredible efficiency, hitting eight of his 10 attempts. Curry finished the game shooting 9-of-15 from the floor and 7-of-10 from beyond the arc.</p><p>Performances like this are why Sixers’ players and coaches are eager for Curry to be more aggressive offensively. When he gets in a rhythm, he can rack up points in a hurry. When he is hunting shots, the offense is tough to stop. Defenses are forced to pick their poison between swarming Embiid or giving the deadeye shooter clean looks from deep.</p><p>Moving forward, there is no reason why Curry shouldn’t have a similar volume from long distance on a nightly basis. </p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Philadelphia 76ers: Three observations from win vs. Thunder

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Sixers-Thunder-Joel-Embiid-Josh-Giddey.jpg"></figure><h1>Sixers commentator’s bizarre rant against Josh Giddey over Joel Embiid’s scary fall</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-24T20:07:19-07:00">October 24th, 8:07pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-25T07:35:17-07:00">October 25th, 7:35am</time><address><a>Paolo Mariano</a>Paolo is a freelance writer, TV producer, and news editor based in Manila, Philippines.  He will debate anyone to death that Penny Hardaway is the real GOAT, and he will work for pizza.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>It looks like the Ben Simmons story will have to take a backseat for the Philadelphia 76ers. Maybe at least for today.</p><p>The Sixers visited the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night. Late in the fourth quarter, with them comfortably ahead, star big man Joel Embiid chased down Thunder rookie Josh Giddey on a breakaway layup and committed a hard foul.</p><p>Giddey hit the stanchion and was visibly in pain after Embiid’s rough challenge. Quite interestingly though, Sixers analyst Alaa Abdelnaby of NBC Sports Philadelphia gave a take that could only be described as bizarre</p><blockquote>“The question would be: Why are you still running fastbreaks? If you don’t want to play hard, why are you running hard? 76ers just keeping up with people. Joel’s just not giving up the easy two.”</blockquote><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">What. Did the Sixers commentator just say 'he could care less' about Giddey? 😑</p><p>I guess he thinks 'no offense' can excuse anything.<a href="https://t.co/wuNFvoDTEy" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/wuNFvoDTEy</a></p><p>— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClutchPointsApp/status/1452482405420265476?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank">October 25, 2021</a></p></blockquote><p></p></figure><p>Victim-blaming, anyone?</p><p>Embiid immediately went over to Giddey and apologized. Abdenlaby, who played five years in the NBA, said no hard feelings between the two. But he also went on to belittle Giddey.</p><blockquote>“I’m just worried about him (Embiid) when he falls. No offense to Giddey, I could care less. But this guy (Embiid), you don’t want to see him fall awkwardly, because you’re worried as a Sixers fan.”</blockquote><p>While local broadcast crews tend to be biased, an analyst saying he could care less about an opposing player just doesn’t sound right. Be better.</p><p>The <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/sports/nba/philadelphia-76ers/records">Sixers beat the Thunder</a>, 115-103. Embiid finished with 22 points, nine rebounds, and six assists while Giddey had his best game so far for the Thunder with 19 points, eight board, seven dimes, and four steals.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Sixers commentator’s bizarre rant against Josh Giddey over Joel Embiid’s scary fall

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Seth-Curry-goes-full-Stephen-Curry-in-fiery-1st-quarter-vs.jpg"><figcaption>October 24, 2021</figcaption></figure><h1>WATCH: Sixers’ Seth Curry goes full Stephen Curry in fiery 1st quarter vs. Thunder</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-24T18:52:42-07:00">October 24th, 6:52pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-24T18:52:42-07:00">October 24th, 6:52pm</time><address><a>Dijo Songco</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Philadelphia 76ers star Seth Curry channelled his inner-Stephen Curry as the younger Curry exploded for a huge 23-point first quarter on Sunday night. Doing his best impersonation of his older brother, Seth went absolutely bonkers against the Oklahoma City Thunder and dropped 23 points in the game’s first 12 minutes, including six huge three-point bombs.</p><p>Watch as Seth Curry light the scoreboard up (via <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1452420447002251264">Bleacher Report</a>):</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Seth Curry just dropped 23 points in the first quarter</p><p>Man hit 6 threes 😳 <a href="https://t.co/UWGCIBu2z3" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/UWGCIBu2z3</a></p><p>— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1452420447002251264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank">October 24, 2021</a></p></blockquote><p></p></figure><p>There must’ve been something good coming out of the Curry kitchen over these past few days as both siblings have been on a tear to start the regular season. According to <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1452427632021213189">SportsCenter, </a>the two Currys now own the two highest-scoring quarters so far this season with Seth’s 23 on Sunday being a bucket away from Steph Curry’s incredible 25-point first-quarter explosion against the Los Angeles Clippers last week.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">The two highest scoring quarters of the season so far belong to the Curry brothers 💦</p><p>➤ Steph: 25 in first quarter on Thursday vs LAC<br>➤ Seth: 23 in first quarter today vs OKC</p><p>(h/t <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank">@ESPNStatsInfo</a>) <a href="https://t.co/YwIo2NVwDh" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/YwIo2NVwDh</a></p><p>— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1452427632021213189?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank">October 25, 2021</a></p></blockquote><p></p></figure><p>Seth has been having himself quite the season so far. Without a starting court general, as the <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/joel-embiid-sixers-in-hot-water-if-ben-simmons-saga-doesnt-end-soon/">Ben Simmons drama</a> continues to put a dark cloud over the City of Brotherly Love, the 31-year-old scorer has slotted nicely in the starting unit as head coach Doc Rivers’ starting guard.</p><p>After dropping 23 points in their loss against the Brooklyn Nets on Friday, Curry kept his foot on the gas and led the way for the Sixers with a game-high of 28 points to help his team keep their home record spotless at 2-0. Curry ended up knocking down a total of seven threes on Sunday night helping the Sixers come out of the weekend with a 115-103 win over the Thunder.</p><p>Look at Seth Curry, man. So inspirational.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

WATCH: Sixers’ Seth Curry goes full Stephen Curry in fiery 1st quarter vs. Thunder

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Thunder-video-Shai-Gilgeous-Alexander-gets-water-bottle-shower-after-20-20-10-game.jpg"></figure><h1>76ers-Thunder: Game Time, Odds, Schedule, TV Channel, Betting Odds, and Live Stream (Sunday, October 24th)</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-24T10:00:30-07:00">October 24th, 10:00am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-24T10:00:30-07:00">October 24th, 10:00am</time><address><a>ClutchPoints</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA Game Time</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Philadelphia 76ers (49-23) take on the Oklahoma City Thunder (22-50) at Paycom Center.</p><p><b>Game Time:</b> 7:00PM EDT/4:00PM PDT on Sunday, October 24th</p><p><b>TV:</b> BSOK</p><p><b>Betting Odds:</b> <a href="https://www.bovada.lv/sports/basketball/nba" rel="noopener noreferrer">NBA Odds</a></p><p><b>Live Stream:</b> Watch the game <a href="https://www.fubo.tv/lp/nba/?irad=356361&amp;irmp=492408&amp;bgvideo=NBATV.mp4" rel="noopener noreferrer">online with fuboTV (free trial)</a>. Sign up now for a free seven-day trial. You can follow the game live on the <a href="http://bit.ly/CPAppNow" rel="noopener noreferrer">ClutchPoints app</a>. <br><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/adamsilver4live/comments/ezi3xz/games_will_be_posted_here/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reddit Thread.</a></p><p><b>76ers Active Roster:</b> Seth Curry, Ben Simmons, Isaiah Joe, Andre Drummond, Danny Green, Shake Milton, Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris, Matisse Thybulle, Joel Embiid, Paul Reed, Grant Riller, Furkan Korkmaz, Charles Bassey, Georges Niang</p><p><b>76ers Injured Players:</b></p><ul><li>Ben Simmons (Out – Back): Simmons is not expected to play for an undetermined period of time, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.</li><li>Andre Drummond (Day To Day – Ankle): Drummond is doubtful for Sunday’s (Oct. 24) game.</li><li>Shake Milton (Out – Ankle): Milton is out for Sunday’s (Oct. 24) game.</li><li>Joel Embiid (Day To Day – Knee): Embiid is questionable for Sunday’s (Oct. 24) game.</li><li>Grant Riller (Out – Left Knee): Riller is out for Sunday’s (Oct. 24) game.</li></ul><p><b>Thunder Active Roster:</b> Ty Jerome, Aleksej Pokusevski, Luguentz Dort, Tre Mann, Darius Bazley, Josh Giddey, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Mike Muscala, Theo Maledon, Vit Krejci, Kenrich Williams, Gabriel Deck, Derrick Favors, Isaiah Roby, Paul Watson Jr., Aaron Wiggins, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander</p><p><b>Thunder Injured Players:</b></p><ul><li>None</li></ul><p><b>Follow us on Twitter</b> at <a href="https://twitter.com/SixersNationCP" rel="noopener noreferrer">@SixersNationCP</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ThunderNationCP" rel="noopener noreferrer">@ThunderNationCP</a>.</p><p><b>Follow us on Facebook</b> at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PhiladelphiaSixersNation" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philadelphia 76ers</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheThunderNation" rel="noopener noreferrer">Oklahoma City Thunder</a>.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

76ers-Thunder: Game Time, Odds, Schedule, TV Channel, Betting Odds, and Live Stream (Sunday, October 24th)

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Thunder-1.jpg"></figure><h1>Oklahoma City Thunder: 5 big questions for 2021-22 NBA season</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-23T08:47:11-07:00">October 23rd, 8:47am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-23T08:47:11-07:00">October 23rd, 8:47am</time><address><a>Mike Cruz</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">Editorials</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Oklahoma City Thunder are only one game into their <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/oklahoma-city-thunder-4-bold-predictions-for-the-2021-22-nba-season/">2021-22 campaign</a>, yet the franchise is already probably already looking at the 2022 NBA Draft. For all intents and purposes, the Thunder aren’t looking to stay competitive this season as they look to secure more ping pong balls for the lottery. In addition, they will use this year to develop the young talent on their squad and see which ones could be part of Sam Presti’s long-term plan to eventually build a contender through the draft.</p><p>This past summer, the Thunder made some steps as they slowly inch their way toward that goal. They committed themselves to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander by extending the star shooting guard to a massive, 5-year $172 million deal, making him the centerpiece of their future. Oklahoma City also selected Australian guard Josh Giddey with the sixth overall pick in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_NBA_draft">2021 NBA Draft</a>. With the tank still in tow, it will be interesting to see just what will transpire in OKC this season. Here are five big questions for the Oklahoma City Thunder for the 2021-22 NBA season.</p><h2>5 big Oklahoma City Thunder questions for 2021-22 NBA season?</h2><p><b>5. Will Sam Presti trade for more picks?</b></p><p>With his moves over the last couple of years, it definitely seems like Sam Presti has some kind of obsession with draft picks. Jokes aside, this is all part of whatever his version of “The Process” is for this Thunder franchise. Presti has amassed a boatload of draft assets, which includes 14 first-round picks over the next five years. With the way he’s going, it’s worth wondering if he will ever be done. Will Presti continue filling up Oklahoma City’s already filled-to-the-brim cupboard of draft capital?</p><p><b>4. Will the lack of a veteran presence hurt the young players’ growth?</b></p><p>Just by looking at the Thunder’s roster, it wouldn’t take long for anybody to realize that Oklahoma City is the youngest team in the NBA. Their oldest players are Derrick Favors and Mike Muscala, both 30-year-olds. The rest of the roster is 26 years old or younger. Over half are below the age of 22. With the current roster construction, one could think whether their lack of veteran presence would hurt the development of some of these young guys down the line.</p><p>It’s easy to forget that some of these Thunder players are just kids. Even if guys like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Luguentz Dort are considered the veterans of this team, they are still just 23 years old and may still need some guidance themselves. Favors and Muscala should be able to offer that, but it will be more beneficial to this young squad if they could have a few more veterans they can run to for guidance and help.</p><p><b>3. How will the players take all the losing?</b></p><p>The Thunder front office is definitely hoping to get as many losses as possible this upcoming campaign. That is the main pathway in landing a high pick in next year’s NBA draft. But with that goal in mind, let us not forget that these players are competitors to the core. No athlete wants to go out there and lose all the time. That’s why it will be interesting to see just how long will some of the players be able to take in all of the losing. This could have a demoralizing effect on some of these young guys, or perhaps this experience could end up making their characters stronger in the long run.</p><p><b>2. Who will stand out from their young core?</b></p><p>Aside from the team’s anointed franchise star Gilgeous-Alexandar and its prized 2021 sixth-overall pick Josh Giddey, OKC has an abundance of other young prospects on the roster. Luguentz Dort made a name for himself as a rookie back in 2019-20 when he was tasked to guard James Harden in the 2020 postseason. Aleksej Pokusevski is an intriguing, high-upside 7-footer. Darius Bazley is a supreme athlete that showed strides in his sophomore campaign last year. Theo Maledon had a solid rookie campaign and got plenty of opportunities in his debut season. These are just some of the young prospects the Thunder have that could make a leap this <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/sports/nba/oklahoma-city-thunder/schedule">season</a>. The question is, who among them will?</p><p><b>1. Will Sam Presti cash in some of his assets for a trade?</b></p><p>There are rumors that the Thunder are interested in acquiring Collin Sexton from the Cleveland Cavaliers. Adding the 22-year old makes a lot of sense as he fits into their timeline. At the same time, Sexton has already established himself as an absolute bucket in this league. Pairing him with a two-way guard like Gilgeous-Alexander seems like a perfect fit. If Cleveland doesn’t see Sexton as part of the future they are building, then Oklahoma City could swoop in and get their hands on a multi-skilled efficient scorer.</p><p>Sexton is just one potential trade target for the Thunder. Perhaps they could also try to target Sacramento Kings big man Marvin Bagley, who apparently has lost his spot in coach Luke Walton’s rotation. With all of the assets Sam Presti has at his disposal, one has to think that it is only a matter of time before he cashes in on some of the 14 draft picks that Oklahoma City owns over the next half-decade.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Oklahoma City Thunder: 5 big questions for 2021-22 NBA season

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Christian-Wood-Rockets-Thunder-.jpeg"></figure><h1>Christian Wood’s real goal after 31-point, 14-rebound outburst vs. Thunder</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-23T05:52:46-07:00">October 23rd, 5:52am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-23T05:53:20-07:00">October 23rd, 5:53am</time><address><a>Salman Ali</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">Mini-Editorials</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Houston Rockets opened up the Toyota Center with an unexpected, but dominating performance against the Oklahoma City Thunder. After an 18-point beatdown in Minnesota, Houston came into the game determined to make a new first impression. Led by Christian Wood, the Rockets did just that.</p><p>“I think we learned from the last game as far as the readiness that we need to have, the energy from the start, and how we need to play together,” said Stephen Silas after the game. “Being home and having a crowd and all that stuff definitely helps. So we didn’t like the way we played in game one and we rectified it, which is hopefully a sign of things to come as far as taking adversity and learning from it and then doing better.”</p><p>After getting blown out 32 to 21 in the first quarter against the Timberwolves, Houston placed a greater emphasis on starting the game off with the proper intensity. They flipped the script in Houston, outscoring the Thunder 34 to 21 on the backs of gritty defense from Jae’Sean Tate and hot three-point shooting that never dissipated (44.7% for the game).</p><p>“Some of it is guys kind of figuring out how to play together,” said Silas. “You know, it’s hard when you have Tate, Wood, and Theis out there to initially kind of figure out where you’re supposed to be. Slowly but surely, it seems like they’re figuring it out a little bit as far as Christian and his spacing, [Tate] and his spacing – and he was great tonight.”</p><p>Tate was indeed stellar on Friday, finishing the game with 16 points and 14 rebounds on 6-of-9 shooting from the field. Eric Gordon and Kevin Porter Jr. also played well, tallying a combined 40 points on 14-of-30 shooting from the field. However, the standout performer was clearly Christian Wood, who had one of the best performances of his career, racking up 31 points, 14 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 1 steal on an incredible 79.7% true shooting. Wood was a blistering 4-of-6 from downtown, which really opened up the floor for Houston’s offense.</p><p>“He needs to be a spacer,” said Silas. “He needs to be inside-out. He needs to be able to play in the paint as far as his rebounding and playing in the [dunker’s spot] — I think we got a drive and a lob dunk to him. But also spacing the floor and shooting his three is gonna be very important. Because you look at that lineup, we don’t have a bunch of shooters in the starting group. He is one who shot 37% last year. We need his three point shooting, his ability to stretch the defense and open gaps for our drivers.”</p><p>Christian Wood has very publicly taken on the team leader role for the Rockets and took the loss in Minnesota particularly hard.</p><p>“I knew I have to come out with energy,” said Wood. “I have to bring it and I did that. And everybody as a team knew we had to bring it today. Before the game, everybody was fired up and that’s really what you love to see.”</p><p>Wood was pretty nonchalant for what should be a career night, but it’s because he set a high bar for himself in the preseason. He strives to make nights like Friday to be the norm, not stand-out.</p><p>“Better than it was last year,” said Christian Wood when asked about his confidence. “I wanted to be one of the best bigs in this league and I have to go out every night and show that.”</p><p>In a league that’s <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba-5-best-big-3s-entering-the-2021-22-season-ranked/" rel="noopener">increasing in standout big men</a>, this is a pretty tall order. Wood is capable, but he’s going to have to play as well defensively most nights as he did tonight. He seems to have a healthy mentality about not letting this game get to his head.</p><p>“It’s a long season so every game’s not going to be perfect,” said Wood. “We can’t we can’t let this game affect us. We have a lot of games left. We have a big game coming up on Sunday and we just have to forget about this one and move on to the next one.”</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Christian Wood’s real goal after 31-point, 14-rebound outburst vs. Thunder

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/John-Wall-speaks-out-on-James-Harden-following-Houston-preseason-debut.jpg"></figure><h1>Thunder-Rockets: Game Time, Odds, Schedule, TV Channel, Betting Odds, and Live Stream (Friday, October 22nd)</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-22T11:00:34-07:00">October 22nd, 11:00am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-22T11:00:34-07:00">October 22nd, 11:00am</time><address><a>ClutchPoints</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA Game Time</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Oklahoma City Thunder (22-50) take on the Houston Rockets (17-55) at Toyota Center.</p><p><b>Game Time:</b> 8:00PM EDT/5:00PM PDT on Friday, October 22nd</p><p><b>TV:</b> BSOK</p><p><b>Betting Odds:</b> <a href="https://www.bovada.lv/sports/basketball/nba" rel="noopener noreferrer">NBA Odds</a></p><p><b>Live Stream:</b> Watch the game <a href="https://www.fubo.tv/lp/nba/?irad=356361&amp;irmp=492408&amp;bgvideo=NBATV.mp4" rel="noopener noreferrer">online with fuboTV (free trial)</a>. Sign up now for a free seven-day trial. You can follow the game live on the <a href="http://bit.ly/CPAppNow" rel="noopener noreferrer">ClutchPoints app</a>. <br><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/adamsilver4live/comments/ezi3xz/games_will_be_posted_here/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reddit Thread.</a></p><p><b>Thunder Active Roster:</b> Ty Jerome, Aleksej Pokusevski, Luguentz Dort, Tre Mann, Darius Bazley, Josh Giddey, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Mike Muscala, Theo Maledon, Vit Krejci, Kenrich Williams, Gabriel Deck, Derrick Favors, Isaiah Roby, Paul Watson Jr., Aaron Wiggins, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander</p><p><b>Thunder Injured Players:</b></p><ul><li>None</li></ul><p><b>Rockets Active Roster:</b> Danuel House Jr., Jae’Sean Tate, Usman Garuba, Alperen Sengun, KJ Martin Jr., John Wall, Daishen Nix, Josh Christopher, Christian Wood, Garrison Mathews, Jalen Green, D.J. Augustin, Kevin Porter Jr., Daniel Theis, Armoni Brooks, Eric Gordon, David Nwaba</p><p><b>Rockets Injured Players:</b></p><ul><li>Danuel House Jr. (Day To Day – Personal): House Jr. is listed as QUESTIONABLE for Friday’s (Oct. 22) game.</li><li>Garrison Mathews (Day To Day – Not With Team): Mathews is listed as QUESTIONABLE for Friday’s (Oct. 22) game.</li></ul><p><b>Follow us on Twitter</b> at <a href="https://twitter.com/ThunderNationCP" rel="noopener noreferrer">@ThunderNationCP</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/RocketsNationCP" rel="noopener noreferrer">@RocketsNationCP</a>.</p><p><b>Follow us on Facebook</b> at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheThunderNation" rel="noopener noreferrer">Oklahoma City Thunder</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/HoustonRocketsNation" rel="noopener noreferrer">Houston Rockets</a>.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Thunder-Rockets: Game Time, Odds, Schedule, TV Channel, Betting Odds, and Live Stream (Friday, October 22nd)

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Shai-Gilgeous-Alexander-Lu-Dort-Josh-Giddey-Thunder.jpg"></figure><h1>Oklahoma City Thunder: 4 bold predictions for the 2021-22 NBA season</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-21T06:15:30-07:00">October 21st, 6:15am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-21T06:22:38-07:00">October 21st, 6:22am</time><address><a>Virgil Villanueva</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">Editorials</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Oklahoma City Thunder should be the team to watch for in the future. <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/thunder/draft-coverage/a-comprehensive-guide-to-the-thunders-future-draft-picks">It’s not just because they have a load of draft picks in the next coming years.</a> It’s also because they have a set of really good and young players this season. Thunder fans themselves have their own fantasies regarding the team’s upcoming campaign. So it’s only right we share ours. Here are 4 bold predictions for <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/sports/nba/oklahoma-city-thunder/roster">the Thunder</a> in the 2021-22 NBA season.</p><h2><b>Thunder Bold Predictions</b></h2><p><b>Lu Dort will be named into the All-NBA Defensive Team</b></p><p>Lu Dort first entered mainstream consciousness for his defensive performance in the 2020 Orlando bubble. He was a rookie back then. But his coach and his teammates trusted him enough to be able to guard James Harden, one of the most potent offensive players in league history. It didn’t matter if they lost the series. What matters is that Dort proved that he belongs in the NBA. The undrafted guard out of Arizona State sent a message to teams who passed on him.</p><p>Last season, Dort finished <a href="https://www.nba.com/news/nba-announces-2020-21-all-defensive-first-and-second-teams">13th place</a> in the 10-man All-NBA Defensive Team pool. This is a clear indication that he’s on the radar of the voters. Perhaps the reason why he failed to make it to the team was the Thunder’s mediocre 22-50 win-loss record. Winning is all that matters in this league. If your team is piling up W after W, then it’ll get attention. This season, the Thunder have all the tools to finally squeeze out a winning record. In turn, Dort’s stock will rise enough for him to make it to the All-NBA Defensive Team.</p><p><b>Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will become an All-Star</b></p><p>Over the summer, Gilgeous-Alexander inked a five-year, $172 million maximum rookie contract extension. It’s a money bag he deserves for performing well in his first three years in the league. Last season, he stepped things up a notch by averaging 23.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 5.9 assists. These numbers were enough to convince the Thunder front office that Alexander should be their centerpiece.</p><p>Now, we can say that the Thunder have an identity as a team. That identity features Alexander at the center. With that said, Thunder fans should see a bunch of offensive sets run by Alexander. The man has turned into an offensive gunner and a playmaker as well. In clutch situations, head coach Mark Daigneault will set up plays for Alexander. In short, Alexander will have tons of opportunities to showcase his talent. There’s a pretty good chance he’ll show it off more often than not.</p><p><b>Josh Giddey will log in a bunch of triple-doubles</b></p><p>Josh Giddey, the sixth overall pick of the Thunder in the 2021 NBA Draft, proved why he is the real deal. In the preseason, he averaged 13.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists across 28.9 minutes. There were several games where he had a few rebounds or assists away from recording a triple-double. The preseason was a good preview of what Giddey can do and what type of player he is. He’s one of those players whose make and style leans towards doing everything on the floor.</p><p>Giddey, who stands 6-foot-8, is a point guard by nature pretty much like Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic or LA Lakers star LeBron James. And just like them, Giddey has exceptional vision and passing abilities. In addition, the fact that he stands 6-foot-8, which is the average height of forwards, makes it relatively easy to snag the rebound. A rebounding point guard opens a lot of opportunities to run the break. Triple-doubles get a lot of attention in today’s era. With that said, once Giddey logs in a triple-double (and he will), the whole world will know about it.</p><p><b>The Thunder will qualify for the play-in tournament</b></p><p>At this point, the Thunder are still in the early stages of rebuilding. They have their franchise guy in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who will continue to develop as a player. He’s surrounded by fellow young guys in Lu Dort, Josh Giddey, Darius Bazley, Aleksej Pokusevski, among others. These players do not bring any fear in their opponents’ faces — at least not yet.</p><p>Given this reality, the feasible goal for them is to make the play-in tournament. If they do make the playoffs, then that’s a good sign of things to come. If they don’t, then it’s still alright. As most NBA fans know by now, the Thunder have accumulated a ton of draft picks in the next few years. They will have a lot of talent coming in and ample time to shape the roster into a playoff team.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Oklahoma City Thunder: 4 bold predictions for the 2021-22 NBA season

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Jazz-Donovan-Mitchell-Jordan-Clarkson-Mike-Conley.jpg"></figure><h1>Thunder-Jazz: Game Time, Odds, Schedule, TV Channel, Betting Odds, and Live Stream (Wednesday, October 20th)</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-20T12:03:38-07:00">October 20th, 12:03pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-20T12:03:38-07:00">October 20th, 12:03pm</time><address><a>ClutchPoints</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA Game Time</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Oklahoma City Thunder (22-50) take on the Utah Jazz (52-20) at Vivint Arena.</p><p><b>Game Time:</b> 9:00PM EDT/6:00PM PDT on Wednesday, October 20th</p><p><b>TV:</b> BSOK</p><p><b>Betting Odds:</b> <a href="https://www.bovada.lv/sports/basketball/nba" rel="noopener noreferrer">NBA Odds</a></p><p><b>Live Stream:</b> Watch the game <a href="https://www.fubo.tv/lp/nba/?irad=356361&amp;irmp=492408&amp;bgvideo=NBATV.mp4" rel="noopener noreferrer">online with fuboTV (free trial)</a>. Sign up now for a free seven-day trial. You can follow the game live on the <a href="http://bit.ly/CPAppNow" rel="noopener noreferrer">ClutchPoints app</a>. <br><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/adamsilver4live/comments/ezi3xz/games_will_be_posted_here/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reddit Thread.</a></p><p><b>Thunder Active Roster:</b> Ty Jerome, Aleksej Pokusevski, Luguentz Dort, Tre Mann, Darius Bazley, Josh Giddey, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Mike Muscala, Theo Maledon, Vit Krejci, Kenrich Williams, Gabriel Deck, Derrick Favors, Isaiah Roby, Paul Watson Jr., Aaron Wiggins, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander</p><p><b>Thunder Injured Players:</b></p><ul><li>None</li></ul><p><b>Jazz Active Roster:</b> Jordan Clarkson, Elijah Hughes, Jared Butler, Royce O’Neale, Rudy Gobert, Hassan Whiteside, Mike Conley, Udoka Azubuike, Joe Ingles, Rudy Gay, Eric Paschall, Bojan Bogdanovic, Malik Fitts, Donovan Mitchell, Trent Forrest, Miye Oni</p><p><b>Jazz Injured Players:</b></p><ul><li>Rudy Gay (Out – Right Heel): Gay is listed as OUT for Wednesday’s (Oct. 20) game.</li><li>Eric Paschall (Day To Day – Finger): Paschall is listed as PROBABLE for Wednesday’s (Oct. 20) game.</li><li>Trent Forrest (Out – Concussion): Forrest is listed as OUT for Wednesday’s (Oct. 20) game.</li></ul><p><b>Follow us on Twitter</b> at <a href="https://twitter.com/ThunderNationCP" rel="noopener noreferrer">@ThunderNationCP</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/JazzNationCP" rel="noopener noreferrer">@JazzNationCP</a>.</p><p><b>Follow us on Facebook</b> at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheThunderNation" rel="noopener noreferrer">Oklahoma City Thunder</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheJazzNation" rel="noopener noreferrer">Utah Jazz</a>.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Thunder-Jazz: Game Time, Odds, Schedule, TV Channel, Betting Odds, and Live Stream (Wednesday, October 20th)

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/nba-odds-thunder-vs-jazz-prediction-odds-pick-and-more-10-20-21-write-and-publish-10-20_copy.jpg"></figure><h1>NBA Odds: Thunder vs. Jazz prediction, odds, pick and more – 10/20/21</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-20T07:31:54-07:00">October 20th, 7:31am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-20T07:33:36-07:00">October 20th, 7:33am</time><address><a>Sammy Goldman</a>Sammy is studying Sport Management at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. As an avid LA sports fan he supports the Lakers and the Dodgers. He loves all things related to sports and specializes in betting and fantasy for NFL, NBA, and UFC.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Betting</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The 2021 NBA season is finally here. After a great first night of basketball, most of the rest of the teams are ready to get going and begin the regular season. To kick things off, the Oklahoma City Thunder will travel to take on the Utah Jazz. It’s time to continue our NBA odds series and make a Thunder-Jazz prediction and pick.</p><p>This is a tale of two completely different teams. The Thunder are a young team looking to develop into eventual playoff contenders. Only notching 22 wins last season and finishing 14th in the Western Conference, Oklahoma City is still in rebuilding mode.</p><p>The Jazz, on the other hand, are looking to repeat last season’s success and then take another step in the playoffs. While they weren’t able to win a championship, Utah notched 52 wins and first place in the Western Conference. The Jazz will be looking to take care of business as a huge favorite, while the Thunder will be looking to play spoiler and get a huge upset.</p><p>Here’s how <a href="https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/navigation/nba">the bookmakers</a> have set the line for Wednesday night’s matchup.</p><h2><b>NBA Odds: Thunder-Jazz Odds</b></h2><p><b><i>*Watch NBA games LIVE with</i></b><a href="https://www.fubo.tv/lp/nba/?irad=356361&amp;irmp=492408"> <b><i>fuboTV (click for free trial)</i></b></a><b><i>*</i></b></p><p>Oklahoma City Thunder: +12.5 (-110)</p><p>Utah Jazz: -12.5 (-110)</p><p>Over: 221.5 (-110)</p><p>Under: 221.5 (-110)</p><h2><b>Why The Thunder Could Cover The Spread</b></h2><p>The Thunder did not have a great 2020-21 season. Injuries and a shortened season are not ideal for a young roster, and it showed. But after a full offseason and a year of playing together, this Oklahoma City team might just be able to take a big step in the right direction. One of the biggest storylines for this young roster was an injury to their best player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/thunder-news-shai-gilgeous-alexander-hit-with-concerning-update-foot-injury/">SGA suffered a significant tear in his plantar fascia</a> last season, which led to the team committing to tanking last season. Prior to his injury, this Thunder team was competitive.</p><p>Through the first 43 games of last season, Oklahoma City had a record of 19-24. They were fighting for a playoff spot and were competing against the best in the league. They had wins against both the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks, the two teams that eventually would play for an NBA title. This is right before SGA suffered a season-ending injury that would cause him to miss the last 29 games of the regular season. Of those 29 games, the Thunder lost 26 of them. Now that SGA is back and the Thunder have two top-20 draft picks, they are ready for a bounce-back 2021.</p><p>When SGA played last year he impacted games in a big way. Last season, <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/gilgesh01.html">SGA averaged career highs across the board</a>. He was scoring over 23 points per game on nearly 51% shooting. Add to that 5.9 assists and 4.7 rebounds a game, and SGA was making a case for Most Improved Player. While he was only able to play 35 games last season, Thunder fans should hold out hope and be very optimistic of what SGA will be able to do in his fourth season. This young Thunder team will be exciting to watch and should be able to give the Jazz a run for their money.</p><h2><b>Why The Jazz Could Cover The Spread</b></h2><p>The Jazz are a great team. They have every piece in place to make a deep playoff run and will be looking to do so starting from this season-opening game. As they host the Thunder, Utah will look to make a statement that it is the best in the West. The Jazz earned first place in the Western Conference for a reason and will look to continue last year’s regular-season success on Wednesday night.</p><p>Last season, <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/UTA/2021.html">Utah ranked in the top five in both points scored and opposing points allowed</a>. The Jazz averaged 116.4 points per game while only allowing 107.2 points from opponents. This combination of explosive offense and lockdown defense makes them one of the toughest teams in the league to face. They are both balanced and deep. The Jazz are built for an 82-game season and can handle adversity.</p><p>Leading the charge for the Utah Jazz is Donovan Mitchell. Spida Mitchell is one of the best talents in the NBA. Entering his fifth season, Mitchell has only gotten better. He has <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/mitchdo01.html">improved in points, assists, and rebounds every season he has been in the league</a>. He was limited by injury to only 53 games last season and was playing though pain for many of those games he did play. This year, he is healthy and ready to dominate. Get ready for Spida to be on full display.</p><h2><b>Final Thunder-Jazz Prediction &amp; Pick</b></h2><p>This is a tough game to bet on because of the wide margin of the line. The Jazz are definitely the better team, but winning by 12 or more is tough, especially with a healthy SGA and young Thunder roster that is itching for a win after last season’s tank. Pick the Thunder to cover this spread, or pick the over. Both are solid options. The Thunder are going to surprise a lot of fans this season if they stay healthy.</p><p><b>FINAL PICK: Oklahoma City Thunder +12.5 (-110)</b></p><p><b>FINAL SCORE PREDICTION: Jazz 118 – Thunder 110</b></p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

NBA Odds: Thunder vs. Jazz prediction, odds, pick and more – 10/20/21

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Aleksej-Pokusevski-goes-full-Magic-Johnson-with-sweet-behind-the-back-move.jpg"></figure><h1>Thunder center Aleksej Pokusevski goes full Magic Johnson with sweet behind-the-back move</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-14T20:39:27-07:00">October 14th, 8:39pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-14T20:39:27-07:00">October 14th, 8:39pm</time><address><a>Gerard Samillano</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Oklahoma City Thunder might be in the midst of a rebuild this season, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be exciting moments. Case in point: Aleksej Pokuševski, who pulled off this Showtime-esque move in the preseason.</p><p>Pokuševski channeled his inner Magic Johnson and did this beautiful combo sequence in the Thunder’s preseason game against the Denver Nuggets. (<a href="https://twitter.com/okcthunder/status/1448831410903658499">via @okcthunder on Twitter</a>)</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">NOW THAT'S SOME MAGIC<a href="https://twitter.com/aleksejpokusevs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank">@aleksejpokusevs</a> ↔️ <a href="https://twitter.com/JCREarl?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank">@JCREarl</a> <a href="https://t.co/cEsATvnjFS" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/cEsATvnjFS</a></p><p>— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) <a href="https://twitter.com/okcthunder/status/1448831410903658499?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank">October 15, 2021</a></p></blockquote><p></p></figure><p>SPICY! Pokuševski has been flying under the radar for casual NBA fans, but the kid has the potential to be something special. This play is a showcase of what he can do for the Thunder: after evading the first defender with a behind-the-back dribble, he shook the defender with a hypnotic combo dribble that ended in a sweet behind-the-back pass to Jeremiah Robinson-Earl. He then cut to the rim and received an easy pass to complete this beautiful play.</p><p>Pokuševski entered the NBA draft as a raw, rail-thin center prospect with ball-handling and playmaking skills. He was drafted in 2020 by the Thunder with the 17th pick. He didn’t have eye-popping stats in his rookie year: averaging only 8.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.2 assists. However, with a year’s worth of experience under his belt, Poku is ready to prove his worth to the Thunder organization.</p><p>The Thunder is undergoing a rebuild this season, but they have some exciting prospects that they can build on. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is looking like the NBA franchise point guard they need after Westbrook’s departure, and he’s looking to <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/buy-shai-gilgeous-alexander-stock-before-he-blows-up-for-the-thunder-next-season/">bounce back</a> from a meh 2020 season. Lu Dort made a name for himself in the bubble for doing an admirable defensive job on James Harden.</p><p>With SGA, Dort, and new rookie Josh Giddey joining Aleksej Pokuševski in the lineup, the Thunder are looking like a must-watch NBA League Pass team, if only for their highlights on the court.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Thunder center Aleksej Pokusevski goes full Magic Johnson with sweet behind-the-back move

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-14-153143.png"></figure><h1>3 players Oklahoma City Thunder should trade for within the next year</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-14T15:34:18-07:00">October 14th, 3:34pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-14T15:35:02-07:00">October 14th, 3:35pm</time><address><a>Robbie Stratakos</a>Robbie Stratakos is an NBA writer at ClutchPoints. He has been with the publication since January 2019 and is also an MLB writer at Sportsnaut. Robbie has been writing and editing for various online sports publications for five years. He graduated from Mount Saint Mary College in May 2021 with a Journalism major, a Public Relations minor, and a Writing concentration.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Editorials</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Oklahoma City Thunder have a treasure trove of young players and future draft picks. Regarding the former, the Thunder have the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort, Darius Bazley, Aleksej Pokusevski, Theo Maledon, Ty Jerome, Josh Giddey (he was selected with the sixth pick in the 2021 NBA Draft), Tre Mann (he was selected with the 18th pick in the 2021 NBA Draft) and many others present.</p><p>As for the pick tally, Oklahoma City has managed to compile potentially 17 first-round draft selections between 2022-26. That’s historically absurd.</p><p>At the same time, there are two realities facing the Thunder: 1) their young core was the 14th seed in the Western Conference last season and 2) the organization is going to have to trade a lot of these assets before they lose their value and/or go to waste.</p><p>General manager Sam Presti has all the tools to pull off one or multiple blockbuster trades over the next year. Two players he should look to maintain are Gilgeous-Alexander, who has become one of the best all-around guards in the NBA, and Giddey, who has a tremendous passing and rebounding ability.</p><p>Here are three players the Thunder should look to trade for within the next year.</p><h2><b>Thunder trade targets:</b></h2><h2><b>Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves</b></h2><p>At the moment, the T-Wolves appear to be standing pat with their roster. But if the team is quickly out of realistic playoff contention this season, that mindset can change. If and when the T-Wolves become open to trade offers for some of their leading scorers, the Thunder can swoop in and make an enticing offer for Towns.</p><p>As previously alluded to, the Thunder can make any trade they want. From Minnesota’s perspective, they can demand a pair of young guards (Maledon and Mann), an athletic forward (Bazley?) and anywhere between two and four first-round selections, some of which could come in next year’s NBA Draft.</p><p>Minnesota gets budding players and the chance to quickly add talented youngsters to their depth chart. Meanwhile, Towns becomes head coach Mark Daigneault’s frontcourt mainstay.</p><p>The big man is a versatile scorer and a highly productive player. Towns can bang in the paint, stretch the floor with his jump shooting and put the ball on the floor, if need be. For his career, the 25-year-old is averaging 22.9 points and 11.6 rebounds per game while shooting 39.4 percent from beyond the arc.</p><p>For a team with a lot of precarious pieces to the puzzle, Towns provides Oklahoma City with a much-needed fixture. Towns and Gilegous-Alexander become the bedrock of the team’s future, providing the developing players around them with someone to take attention off them.</p><h2><b>Kristaps Porzingis, Dallas Mavericks</b></h2><p>Porzingis is a prime candidate to be moved, and it seems realistic to acquire the big man at a lower cost than this talent would typically demand. A swap along the lines of Dort, Bazley and a first-rounder could get the conversation started. Furthermore, the Thunder can trade for Porzingis and still have the plethora of assets to acquire a top-20 player if one becomes attainable via trade.</p><p>Porzingis is a unique talent. He has simply become a shadow of his old self because he became a secondary scoring option and eventually a role player in the Mavericks’ offense. This partially took place due to Luka Doncic making an exponential jump to stardom.</p><p>Still 26, Porzingis can be a leading source of offense for an NBA team. He has a smooth jump shot, can put the ball on the floor and fly across the baseline. For what it’s worth, Porzingis has still averaged 20-plus points per game in his two seasons with the Mavericks despite being relatively quiet last postseason.</p><p>With the Thunder, Porzingis potentially has Giddey getting the ducks in a row and Gilgeous-Alexander attracting attention off the dribble. Porzingis can work from the outside in and do damage in the paint as he gets more acquainted with their offense.</p><p>He wouldn’t be the first player defenses focus on. Nonetheless, it would be an opportunity for him to get his scoring back on track. It’s a win-win prospect for the Thunder, who could reap the benefits of a rejuvenated big man. Porzingis’ motivation would be to help get a young team to the playoffs while becoming an offensive pillar once again.</p><h2><b>Brandon Ingram, New Orleans Pelicans</b></h2><p>This thing can really go one of two ways for the Pelicans. <a href="https://www.nba.com/thunder/">They could put it all together</a> with Willie Green running the show or they could continue to be a talented team that comes up short of the playoffs in the Western Conference. Zion Williamson’s future is an enigma, and that likely makes Ingram at least capable of being acquired if matters go south in New Orleans. If that indeed <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nuggets-thunder-game-time-odds-schedule-tv-channel-betting-odds-and-live-stream-thursday-october-14th/">takes place, the Thunder</a> should be all over Ingram.</p><p>Ingram has become a prolific scorer. He gets to the rim off the dribble with ease, has become an efficient shooter and someone an NBA offense can be run through. In his two years with the Pelicans, Ingram has averaged 23.8 points per game in back-to-back seasons (that’s really something) while shooting a combined 38.6 percent from beyond the arc.</p><p>Ingram becomes a way for the Thunder to bypass the growth of their young forwards. They swap out a couple of those players, as well as a young floor general and multiple first-rounders to get the rangy forward.</p><p>While the Thunder will and have hit on their fair share of players, not all of their draft selections will become reliable players; it’s only natural for some to not pan out.</p><p>The Thunder can get their hands on both Ingram and one of Towns and Porzingis. If they do as such, they could find themselves in contention for the NBA Finals in 2023. That’s the way their asset stocking of late can culminate if they play their cards right.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

3 players Oklahoma City Thunder should trade for within the next year

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Thunder-video-Shai-Gilgeous-Alexander-gets-water-bottle-shower-after-20-20-10-game.jpg"></figure><h1>Nuggets-Thunder: Game Time, Odds, Schedule, TV Channel, Betting Odds, and Live Stream (Thursday, October 14th)</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-14T11:00:15-07:00">October 14th, 11:00am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-14T11:00:15-07:00">October 14th, 11:00am</time><address><a>ClutchPoints</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA Game Time</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Denver Nuggets (47-25) take on the Oklahoma City Thunder (22-50) at BOK Center.</p><p><b>Game Time:</b> 8:00PM EDT/5:00PM PDT on Thursday, October 14th</p><p><b>TV:</b> </p><p><b>Betting Odds:</b> <a href="https://www.bovada.lv/sports/basketball/nba" rel="noopener noreferrer">NBA Odds</a></p><p><b>Live Stream:</b> Watch the game <a href="https://www.fubo.tv/lp/nba/?irad=356361&amp;irmp=492408&amp;bgvideo=NBATV.mp4" rel="noopener noreferrer">online with fuboTV (free trial)</a>. Sign up now for a free seven-day trial. You can follow the game live on the <a href="http://bit.ly/CPAppNow" rel="noopener noreferrer">ClutchPoints app</a>. <br><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/adamsilver4live/comments/ezi3xz/games_will_be_posted_here/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reddit Thread.</a></p><p><b>Nuggets Active Roster:</b> Aaron Gordon, JaMychal Green, Austin Rivers, Michael Porter Jr., Davon Reed, Giorgi Bezhanishvili, Monte Morris, Facundo Campazzo, Zeke Nnaji, Bol Bol, Jamal Murray, Nah’Shon Hyland, Markus Howard, Will Barton, Vlatko Cancar, Tarik Black, Jeff Green, PJ Dozier, Petr Cornelie, Nikola Jokic</p><p><b>Nuggets Injured Players:</b></p><ul><li>Jamal Murray (Out – Knee): Murray is recovering from a torn ACL and no timetable has been announced for his return.</li></ul><p><b>Thunder Active Roster:</b> Ty Jerome, Aleksej Pokusevski, Luguentz Dort, Tre Mann, Darius Bazley, Josh Giddey, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Mike Muscala, Theo Maledon, Vit Krejci, D.J. Wilson, Kenrich Williams, Gabriel Deck, Derrick Favors, Isaiah Roby, Paul Watson Jr., Mamadi Diakite, Aaron Wiggins, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander</p><p><b>Thunder Injured Players:</b></p><ul><li>None</li></ul><p><b>Follow us on Twitter</b> at <a href="https://twitter.com/NuggetsNationCP" rel="noopener noreferrer">@NuggetsNationCP</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ThunderNationCP" rel="noopener noreferrer">@ThunderNationCP</a>.</p><p><b>Follow us on Facebook</b> at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DenverNuggetsNation" rel="noopener noreferrer">Denver Nuggets</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheThunderNation" rel="noopener noreferrer">Oklahoma City Thunder</a>.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Nuggets-Thunder: Game Time, Odds, Schedule, TV Channel, Betting Odds, and Live Stream (Thursday, October 14th)

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Thunder-video-Shai-Gilgeous-Alexander-gets-water-bottle-shower-after-20-20-10-game.jpg"></figure><h1>Nuggets-Thunder: Game Time, Odds, Schedule, TV Channel, Betting Odds, and Live Stream (Wednesday, October 13th)</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-13T11:02:14-07:00">October 13th, 11:02am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-13T11:02:14-07:00">October 13th, 11:02am</time><address><a>ClutchPoints</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA Game Time</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Denver Nuggets (47-25) take on the Oklahoma City Thunder (22-50) at Paycom Center.</p><p><b>Game Time:</b> 8:00PM EDT/5:00PM PDT on Wednesday, October 13th</p><p><b>TV:</b> BSOK</p><p><b>Betting Odds:</b> <a href="https://www.bovada.lv/sports/basketball/nba" rel="noopener noreferrer">NBA Odds</a></p><p><b>Live Stream:</b> Watch the game <a href="https://www.fubo.tv/lp/nba/?irad=356361&amp;irmp=492408&amp;bgvideo=NBATV.mp4" rel="noopener noreferrer">online with fuboTV (free trial)</a>. Sign up now for a free seven-day trial. You can follow the game live on the <a href="http://bit.ly/CPAppNow" rel="noopener noreferrer">ClutchPoints app</a>. <br><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/adamsilver4live/comments/ezi3xz/games_will_be_posted_here/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reddit Thread.</a></p><p><b>Nuggets Active Roster:</b> Aaron Gordon, JaMychal Green, Austin Rivers, Michael Porter Jr., Davon Reed, Giorgi Bezhanishvili, Monte Morris, Facundo Campazzo, Zeke Nnaji, Bol Bol, Jamal Murray, Nah’Shon Hyland, Markus Howard, Will Barton, Vlatko Cancar, Tarik Black, Jeff Green, PJ Dozier, Petr Cornelie, Nikola Jokic</p><p><b>Nuggets Injured Players:</b></p><ul><li>Jamal Murray (Out – Knee): Murray is recovering from a torn ACL and no timetable has been announced for his return.</li></ul><p><b>Thunder Active Roster:</b> Ty Jerome, Aleksej Pokusevski, Melvin Frazier Jr., Luguentz Dort, Tre Mann, Darius Bazley, Josh Giddey, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Mike Muscala, Theo Maledon, Vit Krejci, D.J. Wilson, Kenrich Williams, Gabriel Deck, Derrick Favors, Isaiah Roby, Paul Watson Jr., Mamadi Diakite, Aaron Wiggins, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander</p><p><b>Thunder Injured Players:</b></p><ul><li>None</li></ul><p><b>Follow us on Twitter</b> at <a href="https://twitter.com/NuggetsNationCP" rel="noopener noreferrer">@NuggetsNationCP</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ThunderNationCP" rel="noopener noreferrer">@ThunderNationCP</a>.</p><p><b>Follow us on Facebook</b> at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DenverNuggetsNation" rel="noopener noreferrer">Denver Nuggets</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheThunderNation" rel="noopener noreferrer">Oklahoma City Thunder</a>.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Nuggets-Thunder: Game Time, Odds, Schedule, TV Channel, Betting Odds, and Live Stream (Wednesday, October 13th)

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Bucks-Jrue-Holiday-Giannis-Antetokounmpo.jpg"></figure><h1>Thunder-Bucks: Game Time, Odds, Schedule, TV Channel, Betting Odds, and Live Stream (Sunday, October 10th)</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-10T11:00:05-07:00">October 10th, 11:00am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-10T11:00:05-07:00">October 10th, 11:00am</time><address><a>ClutchPoints</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA Game Time</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Oklahoma City Thunder (22-50) take on the Milwaukee Bucks (46-26) at Fiserv Forum.</p><p><b>Game Time:</b> 7:30PM EDT/4:30PM PDT on Sunday, October 10th</p><p><b>TV:</b> ESPN</p><p><b>Betting Odds:</b> <a href="https://www.bovada.lv/sports/basketball/nba" rel="noopener noreferrer">NBA Odds</a></p><p><b>Live Stream:</b> Watch the game <a href="https://www.fubo.tv/lp/nba/?irad=356361&amp;irmp=492408&amp;bgvideo=NBATV.mp4" rel="noopener noreferrer">online with fuboTV (free trial)</a>. Sign up now for a free seven-day trial. With a subscription, you can watch the live stream on <a href="http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn" rel="noopener noreferrer">Watch ESPN app</a>. You can also follow the game live on the <a href="http://bit.ly/CPAppNow" rel="noopener noreferrer">ClutchPoints app</a>. <br><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/adamsilver4live/comments/ezi3xz/games_will_be_posted_here/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reddit Thread.</a></p><p><b>Thunder Active Roster:</b> Ty Jerome, Aleksej Pokusevski, Rob Edwards, Luguentz Dort, Tre Mann, Darius Bazley, Josh Giddey, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Mike Muscala, Theo Maledon, Vit Krejci, D.J. Wilson, Kenrich Williams, Gabriel Deck, Derrick Favors, Isaiah Roby, Paul Watson Jr., Mamadi Diakite, Aaron Wiggins, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander</p><p><b>Thunder Injured Players:</b></p><ul><li>None</li></ul><p><b>Bucks Active Roster:</b> Justin Robinson, Pat Connaughton, Johnny O’Bryant III, Khris Middleton, Javin DeLaurier, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday, Bobby Portis, Giannis Antetokounmpo, George Hill, Georgios Kalaitzakis, Donte DiVincenzo, Elijah Bryant, Brook Lopez, Jordan Nwora, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Tremont Waters, Rodney Hood, Semi Ojeleye, Grayson Allen</p><p><b>Bucks Injured Players:</b></p><ul><li>Donte DiVincenzo (Out – Foot): DiVincenzo suffered a tendon injury in his foot and will miss the rest of the playoffs, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.</li></ul><p><b>Follow us on Twitter</b> at <a href="https://twitter.com/ThunderNationCP" rel="noopener noreferrer">@ThunderNationCP</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/BucksNationCP" rel="noopener noreferrer">@BucksNationCP</a>.</p><p><b>Follow us on Facebook</b> at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheThunderNation" rel="noopener noreferrer">Oklahoma City Thunder</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheBucksNation" rel="noopener noreferrer">Milwaukee Bucks</a>.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Thunder-Bucks: Game Time, Odds, Schedule, TV Channel, Betting Odds, and Live Stream (Sunday, October 10th)

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-09-125842.png"></figure><h1>1 pleasant surprise who stood out for Thunder during 2021 NBA training camp</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-09T13:23:46-07:00">October 9th, 1:23pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-09T13:26:05-07:00">October 9th, 1:26pm</time><address><a>Nihad Žunić</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">Editorials</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Oklahoma City Thunder will not be great this season and it seems like they have accepted that.</p><p>The Thunder have a plethora of picks, young players, and potential scenarios for the future. Right now, the focus is and will be for at least one more season after this one, the development of young guys. Shai Gilgeous Alexander is the star of the team, while his supporting cast is still to be determined. With these young teams, it is difficult to pin down who will be a key part going forward. However, one prospect could be a possible training camp surprise <a href="https://www.nba.com/thunder/">before the 2021-22 season begins.</a></p><p>This squad is full of very young, raw prospects and the challenge will be determining who is of NBA quality, and who just had empty numbers on a bad team. The Thunder team that made the playoffs in the bubble had Lugenz Dort, so he should be alongside Gilgeous-Alexander when the time comes for this team to really be in contention. The same should be said for the rookies, Josh Giddey and Tre Mann, both of which have been selected to be the future of the team.</p><p>One Thunder player who has been the <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/sports/nba/oklahoma-city-thunder/news">talk of the town</a> during training camp and is earning his long-term place – Aleksej Pokusevski.</p><h2><b>Thunder training camp surprise</b></h2><p>Pokusevski is a forward that came over from the legendary Greek club Olympiacos. He is still 19 and has a ton of time to become a great player for this Thunder team. Unfortunately for the Serbian, his first season was not completely great. He played in 45 games, averaging 24.2 minutes per contest and 8.2 points per game. He had abysmal shooting averages, just 34.1% from the field and 28.0% from three. However, that is just the first year, which can be very difficult for guys coming over from Europe.</p><p>While his preseason debut was not ideal, Pokusevski has been great in training camp. Rylan Stiles from CU Sports <a href="https://twitter.com/Rylan_Stiles/status/1444006144138166276">reported a statement</a> from Thunder coach Mark Daigneault, where he said that Pokusevski entered camp with better stamina, strength, and decision making. The last part is very important since the Serbian had 2.2 turnovers a game last season.</p><p>The praise did not stop there. <a href="https://www.oklahoman.com/story/sports/nba/thunder/2021/09/30/aleksej-pokusevski-poku-thunder-offseason-weight-gain-muscle-summer-league-training-camp/5920217001/">As the Oklahoman reports</a>, coach Daigneault had more things to say about Pokusevski. Here is what the Thunder coach stated after the second day of training camp:</p><blockquote>He’s getting to the paint a little bit more. Obviously when he first started last year that was one thing that was glaring. He wasn’t in the paint very often at all. He was very perimeter-oriented. With his body type, when he walks into the gym he doesn’t look overly different, but he definitely looks, on the court, more comfortable out there.</blockquote><p>All of these things are positive signs for the Serbian, especially when Sam Presti whose job it is to assemble the roster says that he saw the improvement, as the same Oklahoman report states. Pokusevski has a future in the NBA and the Thunder is the perfect place for it. This amount of young talent, combined with a great coaching staff and patience in the front office means that the Serbian forward can expect to have great minutes this year.</p><p>Obviously, this is all barring some sort of injury or a change in the rotation. Pokusevski still has a ton of work to do this year to really solidify his place in the team. Putting on the weight was good, and it was a start. However, now, he will need to put in a lot of hours in the gym to really get his body to a certain, NBA standard. While his skill set is formidable for his age, the NBA is still a fairly physical league, thus he needs a ton of strength, especially in his position. The Thunder will definitely insist on this, so we can expect him to get a bit bigger this year.</p><p>As mentioned right away, the Thunder are really not looking to make this season a winning one. They are aware that the Western Conference is very rough and to make it there, they do not have the roster. However, with the Brooklyn Nets, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, and Los Angeles Clippers having superteams, the Thunder is clearly looking beyond this short period to build their squad. Beating these teams is very difficult, but age will become a factor. As soon as their stars start to fade, the Thunder are hoping that the youngsters will be ready.</p><p>Pokusevski is definitely hoping that he is one of them. If he is, that will be in part to his great work this summer and during training camp.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

1 pleasant surprise who stood out for Thunder during 2021 NBA training camp

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Thunder-video-Shai-Gilgeous-Alexander-gets-water-bottle-shower-after-20-20-10-game.jpg"></figure><h1>Hornets-Thunder: Game Time, Odds, Schedule, TV Channel, Betting Odds, and Live Stream (Monday, October 4th)</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-04T11:00:35-07:00">October 4th, 11:00am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-04T11:00:35-07:00">October 4th, 11:00am</time><address><a>ClutchPoints</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA Game Time</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Charlotte Hornets (33-39) take on the Oklahoma City Thunder (22-50) at Paycom Center.</p><p><b>Game Time:</b> 8:00PM EDT/5:00PM PDT on Monday, October 4th</p><p><b>TV:</b> </p><p><b>Betting Odds:</b> <a href="https://www.bovada.lv/sports/basketball/nba" rel="noopener noreferrer">NBA Odds</a></p><p><b>Live Stream:</b> Watch the game <a href="https://www.fubo.tv/lp/nba/?irad=356361&amp;irmp=492408&amp;bgvideo=NBATV.mp4" rel="noopener noreferrer">online with fuboTV (free trial)</a>. Sign up now for a free seven-day trial. You can follow the game live on the <a href="http://bit.ly/CPAppNow" rel="noopener noreferrer">ClutchPoints app</a>. <br><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/adamsilver4live/comments/ezi3xz/games_will_be_posted_here/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reddit Thread.</a></p><p><b>Hornets Active Roster:</b> Ish Smith, Kai Jones, Wes Iwundu, Xavier Sneed, Jalen McDaniels, Vernon Carey Jr., DJ Carton, JT Thor, James Bouknight, P.J. Washington, Cody Martin, Scottie Lewis, Kelly Oubre Jr., Mason Plumlee, Arnoldas Kulboka, Nick Richards, Gordon Hayward, Miles Bridges, LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier</p><p><b>Hornets Injured Players:</b></p><ul><li>None</li></ul><p><b>Thunder Active Roster:</b> Ty Jerome, Aleksej Pokusevski, Rob Edwards, Luguentz Dort, Tre Mann, Darius Bazley, Josh Giddey, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Mike Muscala, Theo Maledon, Vit Krejci, D.J. Wilson, Kenrich Williams, Gabriel Deck, Derrick Favors, Isaiah Roby, Paul Watson Jr., Mamadi Diakite, Aaron Wiggins, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander</p><p><b>Thunder Injured Players:</b></p><ul><li>None</li></ul><p><b>Follow us on Twitter</b> at <a href="https://twitter.com/HornetsNationCP" rel="noopener noreferrer">@HornetsNationCP</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ThunderNationCP" rel="noopener noreferrer">@ThunderNationCP</a>.</p><p><b>Follow us on Facebook</b> at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CharlotteHornetsNation" rel="noopener noreferrer">Charlotte Hornets</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheThunderNation" rel="noopener noreferrer">Oklahoma City Thunder</a>.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Hornets-Thunder: Game Time, Odds, Schedule, TV Channel, Betting Odds, and Live Stream (Monday, October 4th)

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Kevin-Durant_s-ex-teammate-arrested-for-falsifying-Covid-19-docs.jpg"></figure><h1>Kevin Durant’s ex-Thunder teammate arrested for falsifying Covid-19 docs</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-03T22:25:52-07:00">October 3rd, 10:25pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-04T14:36:31-07:00">October 4th, 2:36pm</time><address><a>Gerard Samillano</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Another NBA name has made the headlines for reasons related to COVID-19, but this one is a little more serious than the <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nets-news-kyrie-irving-headlines-secret-covid-19-vaccine-resistance-among-nba-stars/">conspiracy theories</a> of Kyrie Irving. Lazar Hayward, who was a teammate of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook for the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 2012 NBA Finals run, was arrested on Monday.</p><p>Hayward and a woman were arrested by Hawaii authorities on suspicion of falsifying documents about their vaccination status. Hayward, a former Thunder player, reportedly uploaded fake negative COVID-19 tests to a database, and was promptly arrested when he and the woman involved with him landed in Lihue Airport. The two were immediately sent on a plane back to Los Angeles. No court date has been set for the former Thunder player. (via <a href="https://twitter.com/GigiGraciette/status/1444358599409483779">Gigi Graciette</a>, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/sports/nba-lazar-hayward-arrested-falsifying-covid-documents">FOX News</a>)</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Sigh. <br>Authorities in Hawaii arrested Lazar Hayward Jr and Raven Randle for uploading falsified Covid-19 negative test results to state database. They then flew from Los Angeles to Hawaii where they were booked and immediately put on a plane back to LA. <a href="https://t.co/aNll32LjsM" target="_blank">https://t.co/aNll32LjsM</a></p><p>— Gigi Graciette (@GigiGraciette) <a href="https://twitter.com/GigiGraciette/status/1444358599409483779?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank">October 2, 2021</a></p></blockquote><p></p></figure><p>Yikes. Apparently, Hayward and his partner procured fake negative COVID-19 test results to avoid being quarantined. Most states require a quarantine of some kind for people entering a new location, as a preventive measure. The question is, why go through all this trouble faking a test when a person could just get the test for free? If a person tested negative legitimately, he or she wouldn’t have needed to quarantine AND wouldn’t have been arrested. It’s very irresponsible of the former Thunder player to go to these lengths to circumvent a rule meant to protect people.</p><p>Hayward’s most notable moment of his NBA career came when he was a part of the 2012 Thunder squad that made the NBA Finals. Hayward played only 29 total games for the team, averaging 5.4 minutes and 1.4 points per game in the regular season. Aside from his stint with the Thunder, he also played two seasons with the Timberwolves, along with stints on various G-League teams.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Kevin Durant’s ex-Thunder teammate arrested for falsifying Covid-19 docs

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Thunder.jpg"></figure><h1>2 potential trade candidates for the Oklahoma City Thunder entering 2021 training camp</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-10-02T08:27:08-07:00">October 2nd, 8:27am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-10-02T08:28:43-07:00">October 2nd, 8:28am</time><address><a>Mike Cruz</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">Editorials</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/sports/nba/oklahoma-city-thunder/schedule">2021-22 season</a> hasn’t even started, but the Oklahoma City Thunder are probably already looking forward to the 2022 NBA draft. Heck, they might also have their sights set on the 2023 NBA Draft, where they can get four first-round picks and two second-round selections. Thunder GM Sam Presti has gone in the business of collecting a <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/a-timeline-of-how-the-okc-thunder-got-36-nba-draft-picks/">boatload of draft capital</a>, including 14 first-round picks, over the next five years. At some point, Presti could cash in on all of those assets when the Thunder makes some progress towards being a playoff team. OKC’s main goal this upcoming 2021-22 campaign is to continue developing their young squad. Likewise, they could also use this season to see which of them will be part of their future moving forward.</p><p>Training camp is already underway. While not many trades are expected to happen this close to the new season, there may be some potential deals that make sense for the Thunder at this point of the preseason. If OKC is going to make a trade, it’s likely for a young player with high upside who can be part of their core in the future. With that said, here are two potential trade candidates for the Oklahoma City Thunder as they go through training camp.</p><h2>1. Collin Sexton</h2><p>The Cleveland Cavaliers are still mulling whether they want to give Collin Sexton a massive extension next summer when he becomes an unrestricted free agent. If the Thunder want to acquire a certified and dynamic scorer, Sexton may just be the guy for them.</p><p>As mentioned earlier, Sam Presti will likely use those picks at some point to bring in a proven contributor instead of a prospect with an uncertain ceiling.</p><p>At the same time, that player must also make sense of their forward-looking outlook. Sexton fits the bill as a potential target, considering the Cavs are thinking about shopping him, too. A first-round pick (and maybe even a second-rounder), as well as one of their young wing players, should be enough to land the 6-foot-1 guard from Cleveland.</p><p>Oklahoma City already committed itself to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander by extending him to a <a href="https://www.spotrac.com/nba/oklahoma-city-thunder/shai-gilgeous-alexander-26977/">5-year, $172 million deal</a>. They could trade for Sexton and secure him with a long-term deal to lock up their backcourt for the future. On paper, Sexton and SGA seem to complement each other well in the backcourt.</p><p>In just three seasons, the Canadian-born guard has proven to be a high-level defender, as well as an efficient scorer. With his length and athleticism, Gilgeous-Alexander should be able to cover Sexton’s deficiencies on defense. Meanwhile, Sexton gives the Thunder another scorer that could help ease the offensive load off SGA.</p><p>If the Thunder are able to trade for Sexton, this move will at least help in giving the Thunder some direction for the future.</p><h2>2. Marvin Bagley</h2><p>Marvin Bagley has yet to live up to the billing of being the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. After three disappointing seasons so far, the Sacramento Kings may just be ready to swallow the pill and move on from the 6-foot-11 lefty. If the Kings decide to shop Bagley, the Thunder should definitely consider trading for him. At least a future first-round pick or two would probably need to go Sacramento’s way in a potential deal for the incoming fourth-year big.</p><p>After a promising rookie campaign where he made the All-Rookie First Team, Bagley has largely struggled to stay on the floor over the last couple of years due to various injuries. The former Duke standout appeared in just 56 total games in his second and third seasons. Missing so much time has really hampered his development, while his peers from his draft class, such as Luka Doncic, Trae Young, and Deandre Ayton, have become key pieces for their respective franchises. Nonetheless, he is just 22-years old. Perhaps a change in scenery could finally get his career on the right trajectory.</p><p>Bagley makes a lot of sense for Oklahoma City. Not only does he fill a need right now, considering the Thunder only have Derrick Favors as their lone true center on the roster, but he also fits the timeline for this young squad. OKC has done a good job stacking up its roster with talented young players, especially from the guard and wing positions. However, what they do not have is a high-upside big man that could be a core piece for them down the line.</p><p>Despite his injury struggles, there’s no questioning Bagley’s talent. In many ways, he has the foundation and the skillset to be a modern-day NBA big man. He and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could be a solid inside-outside combination the Thunder could build on for the future.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

2 potential trade candidates for the Oklahoma City Thunder entering 2021 training camp

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/image_2021-09-19_155352.png"></figure><h1>Buy Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stock before he blows up for the Thunder next season</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-09-19T01:00:16-07:00">September 19th, 1:00am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-09-19T01:00:57-07:00">September 19th, 1:00am</time><address><a href="https://medium.com/@rpsalao">R.P. Salao</a>Check out my best stuff on Medium - medium.com/@rpsalao.I also post quality NBA YouTube content - tinyurl.com/SalaoYouTube.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Editorials</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Oklahoma City Thunder fans still vividly recall their first game last season. At very least, they remember final possession. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had the ball in his hands with the game on the line against the Charlotte Hornets.</p><p>With the score dead even at 107 and just seconds remaining on the game clock, SGA made his move from half court against Cody Martin. It wasn’t anything fancy – just a few dribble moves followed by a hesitation to get his defender off-balance before going in for the kill.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Reminder that SGA hit this game winner in his first game as the face of the franchise <a href="https://t.co/x4F4P5Cfv1" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/x4F4P5Cfv1</a></p><p>— 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒆 🌩 (@Three_Cone) <a href="https://twitter.com/Three_Cone/status/1351059857852522501?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank">January 18, 2021</a></p></blockquote><p></p></figure><blockquote>“I got a couple moves I like to get to on the iso,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander <a href="https://twitter.com/CrainNBA/status/1343036670325743618?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1343036670325743618%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fclutchpoints.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D1485861action%3Dedit">said postgame.</a> “After that, it’s just read and react…that’s a shot I practice a lot.”</blockquote><p>Simple yet effective answer, just as he is on the court. The Oklahoma City Thunder started the season well following this SGA game-winner, then eventually tailed off to fall to a bottom five record in the NBA last season. But it gave Shai enough time to showcase just how good he can be.</p><p>The Thunder star <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/sports/nba/players/shai-gilgeous-alexander/bb5e09d9/stats">posted averages</a> of 23.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 5.9 assists in 35 games last season. The raw numbers made him worthy of some All-Star consideration last year, but it was his efficiency that really turned heads. His excellence flew under the radar given the Thunder’s poor season, but it deserves the spotlight before he comes back for his fourth act next season. Here are <b>two (2) ways Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was ridiculously effective</b> last season.</p><h2><b>Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s underrated jumper</b></h2><p>A minor drop-off from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s shooting splits wouldn’t have been surprising given that he was no longer playing alongside star guards Chris Paul and Dennis Schroder. However, with all the defensive attention shifting their focus on him, SGA somehow got better. He went from 47.1 to 50.8% from the field and a shocking leap in three-point shooting from 34.7 to 41.8%. Had his three-point shooting qualified, that puts SGA just 0.1% off the Top 20 shooters in the league.</p><p>What’s even more impressive is the <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/1628983/shooting/">manner at which he was getting those shots.</a> Of Shai’s 71 made three-pointers last season, 50 of them were unassisted, meaning he created them off the dribble. That comes out to a rate of <b>over 70% of his triples being self-created. </b></p><p>To put that into context, three-point percentage leader Joe Harris <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/203925/shooting/">had 0% (!!!) of his 211 threes</a> unassisted while runner-up Marcus Morris had just 6.4% of his not coming off a pass. Even some of the league’s best outside scorers didn’t come close to SGA’s self-creation from deep last season. Kevin Durant, who also played in 35 games like SGA, <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/201142/shooting/">was unassisted</a> on just 35.2% of his three-pointers made. Stephen Curry is the poster boy for off-the-dribble deep shots, but even he had <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/201939/shooting/">majority of his assisted</a>. The Golden State Warriors star only had 41.2% of his threes self-generated.</p><p>Now there are various factors that come into play here. The sample size for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t as large, both in number of games played and number of attempts per contest. However, 35 games was only a game shy of half the season while taking 4.9 deep shots per game, which is still a pretty significant amount.</p><p>SGA’s need to conjure up his own attempts is more of a testament to the dearth of talent around him compared to some of the league’s other marquee players. But the very fact that he’s facing that handicap and still playing efficiently as heck bodes well for how good he’ll be in his prime once he has a talented roster around him.</p><h2><b>SGA – Best penetrator in the NBA</b></h2><p>Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has improved by leaps and bounds from distance. But what makes him truly special is his ability to get into the paint. The Thunder guard has a knack for getting to the rim at awkward angles and finding ways to finish despite not having extraordinary speed and athleticism.</p><figure class="op-interactive"></figure><p>It’s a sight to behold seeing his lanky frame slither his way past the opposing team’s best defender. He was able to do so with ease last season basically every single night.</p><p>Among the 151 players who scored at least two points off of drives per game last season (min. 35 games), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/shooting-efficiency/?sort=DRIVE_FG_PCT&amp;dir=1&amp;CF=GP*GE*35:DRIVE_PTS*GE*2&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season">ranked 15th</a> in the entire league in scoring efficiency at 55.4% shooting off drives. That puts him right behind Stephen Curry (55.5% off drives) and Kawhi Leonard (55.8% off drives) in terms of converting drives into made baskets.</p><p>And while you could argue a small sample size when it comes to SGA’s three-point shooting numbers, there’s no way to invalidate his proficiency off penetration. That’s because Shai Gilgeous-Alexander <b>led the entire NBA in drives per game</b> and it <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/drives/?sort=DRIVES&amp;dir=1&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season">wasn’t even close.</a></p><p>The difference between Shai’s league-leading 25.2 drives per game and runner-up Luka Doncic’s 20.3 is bigger than the gap between Doncic and 13th place Donovan Mitchell, who had 15.5 drives per game. Leading every NBA player on the planet in drives while rating at the 90th percentile in efficiency is impossible to write off. His finishes may not always make the highlight reels, but he’s downright lethal at finishing them.</p><p>Combine his much-improved three-point shooting with his league-best drive game and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s path to stardom is undeniable. All he needs is a bigger spotlight and better teammates for the league to take notice. With the Oklahoma City Thunder owning the largest war chest of draft assets in the NBA, it’s just going to be a matter of when and not if.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

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