Thunder’s Vit Krejci Opens Up About His Plan For Rookie Season
Among the most unknown prospects on the Oklahoma City Thunder is Vit Krejci, who was selected with the No. 37 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and acquired by OKC.
He missed the entire 2020-21 season as he recovered from an ACL injury. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to play at all, Thunder GM Sam Presti still saw something special in Krejci and was willing to take a chance on him.
Now that he’s getting closer to being fully healthy, the biggest question is where the Czech guard will spend his time playing this season. While the Thunder roster is young and inexperienced, there’s still a ton of guys that will be competing for playing time.
It would make a lot of sense for Krejci to spend the majority of the upcoming in the G League with the OKC Blue, but will that be the case?
"The plan is to be on the Thunder [during the season],” said Krejci in a recent interview. “But if we decide that I need more playing time, I could go to the NBA G League. We'll see in what kind of shape I'll be at the beginning of the season."
While Krejci could just be thinking optimistically, this comment makes it seem as if he’s expecting to spend most of his time in the NBA with the Thunder, rather than playing down with the Blue. As inexperienced as he is, the jump straight to the NBA will be extremely difficult.
Although he’s had a size advantage for the last few years overseas as a 6-foot-8 guard, Krejci will be playing against guys closer to his size at the next level. Additionally, coming off of an injury, the pace of play could prove to be too much early in his career as he plays with the Thunder.
Unless Krejci is able to stand out in training camp and prove he’s legitimately one of the best young players on the team, the G League makes much more sense for him. The last time he played basketball was in the 2019-20 season with Casademont Zaragoza where he played in 37 games. In just 9.2 minutes per game, he averaged 3.2 points and 1.2 rebounds per contest while shooting 55.4 percent from the field.
Krejci is 21 years old, but likely the least experienced player on the entire Thunder roster. He recently traveled to NBA Summer League with the Thunder, but didn’t play as he continues to recover from injury.
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