Is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Playing Tonight? (Injury Update, Betting Impact for Blazers vs. Thunder)

The Oklahoma City Thunder have ruled out MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for Friday night's matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Gilgeous-Alexander (rest) is one of several Thunder players that won't suit up on Friday night, as Isaiah Hartenstein, Lu Dort and Jalen Williams are all out while Chet Holmgren is listed as questionable.

SGA has appeared in 61 games this season, and he's averaging 32.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game while shooting 52.6 percent from the field and 37.8 percent from beyond the arc. The MVP favorite, Gilgeous-Alexander has earned this rest day, but the Thunder are set as just small favorites at home because of all of the players sitting.

Earlier today, I shared in my NBA Best Bets column – Peter’s Points – why the Blazers could be a solid upset pick on Friday:

I absolutely love the Portland Trail Blazers as short underdogs on Friday night.

The Thunder, who are in the driver’s seat for the No. 1 seed in the West, are sitting SGA, Jalen Williams, Isaiah Hartenstein, Lu Dort and Cason Wallace on Friday. Chet Holmgren is also listed as questionable.

That’s several of OKC’s top rotation players, and I’m not sure it’ll have enough of an offensive punch to take down this surging Blazers team. Since Jan. 1, the Blazers are playing over .500 basketball, and Chauncey Billups’ squad ranks 11th in the NBA in net rating over its last 10 games.

OKC has won 15 consecutive games against Portland, but this feels like a scheduled loss with the Thunder willingly sitting most of their top players.

Now, Holmgren may still play and the Thunder will have role players like Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins and Alex Caruso active, but it's really hard to trust this OKC team without SGA in action. The Thunder lost the only other game that SGA missed this season.

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Find Peter Dewey's NBA betting record here (futures included). You can also follow my daily plays on BetStamp here.

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