Thunder Youngsters Stepping Up With Injuries to Key Contributors
Oklahoma City continues to show out in the preseason.
The Thunder (4-1, 2-1) are coming off of a 115-point explosion against Detroit on Tuesday.
Outside of a down game against the Mavericks, the team's only preseason loss to this point, the OKC offense has been clicking on all cylinders.
Without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren. Lu Dort also missed the first two games with a concussion.
Without key parts of the team's past success and future pieces, other players have stepped up, filled the void and have the Thunder rolling.
Aleksej Pokusevski, Jalen Williams and Tre Mann are three of the players who have risen to the occasion to help OKC power through the preseason.
The Thunder have seen a sharp increase in their 3-point shooting attempts and success over the preseason as well. The Thunder continue to show strides forward and despite missing two key young players the other young players are showing great strides in developing for the future.
Ousmane Dieng is another rookie who has stepped up. After a challenging first game, he’s shown showcasing multiple different abilities including an expanded 3-point shot. Dieng is working to gain a bigger role with the team as a rookie like his fellow lottery counterpart Williams has done.
The Thunder still have a long ways to go in terms of becoming a competitor in the long run and competing for Titles again, but they’ve taken great strides and have proven that even without SGA they can still hold their own.
OKC is unlikely to be able to continue this success throughout the regular season, but it shows a bright future as players continue to step up.
The past few seasons have used the next man up mentality for OKC, and this season has started no different.
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