Thunder to Open Preseason Against Wembanyama and Spurs
The Oklahoma City Thunder will kick off the 2023-24 preseason against No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on Oct. 9 at Paycom Center, the team announced Friday.
This will be the team’s first matchup since OKC’s 102-90 regular season win on March 12.
Wembanyama, the 7-foot-5, 19-year-old phenom from France, was drafted first overall last June in a no-brainer pick by the Spurs. He’ll go head-to-head against 2022’s No. 2 draft pick Chet Holmgren, the Thunder’s heavily anticipated forward who sat out last season due to a foot injury.
Wembanyama’s game has garnered attention from the entire NBA, earning co-signs from the likes of Lebron James, Kevin Durant and many others due to his fluidity and ball-handling ability as a 7-foot-5 player towering over his opposition.
Holmgren has also accumulated plenty of hype of his own, deservedly, as the 7-foot-1 forward’s emerging as a Rookie of the Year frontrunner alongside Wembanyama. The Thunder rookie is also gearing up to make a name of his own this year. After sitting out the entire 2022-23 season due to a Lisfranc injury suffered in The Crawsover Pro Am, he’ll be able to display his rehabilitation further against Wembanayama and co.
San Antonio finished dead last this previous season with a 22-60 record, marking it the team’s worst performance since 1996, when head coach Gregg Popovich first took the helm. So, Wembanyama’s impact in his first year is the most tracked storyline of the season as a generational talent makes his leap from French basketball to the NBA.
There’ve been plenty of comparisons between the two “unicorn” prospects. Both products of the new modern era, Holmgren and Wembanyama are 7-foot-plus players with perimeter playmaking capabilities, as well as great defensive mobility and awareness.
It seemed like a long wait for both prospects to reach the league, but now we’ll witness each player take an NBA floor in the first preseason game of the year on Oct. 9 at Paycom Center.
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