Three Intriguing Matchups From Oklahoma City's Schedule Release

The NBA released the 2023-24 schedule Thursday afternoon, and with it, Oklahoma City's full 82-game slate was available to the public. A season ago, the Oklahoma City was fighting for a single nationally televised game and projected to win under 25 games as a team. This time around, the energy surrounding the Thunder is completely different.

Oklahoma City is slated to have four games on TNT, four games on ESPN, and five games on NBATV — meaning 13 total nationally televised games. The team is featured on New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, the NBA's new Rivalry Week and much more. It's clear that the NBA is finally beginning to market this young Thunder team, and it's easy to see why.

Adding Chet Holmgren to a squad that's already rapidly rising just adds fuel to the fire. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a legitimate MVP candidate, Josh Giddey will be near the top of the league's triple-double leaders, and Jalen Williams is coming off of an All-Rookie First Team campaign.

With the schedule finally out, here are three intriguing dates I'll be keeping an eye on throughout Oklahoma City's season:

Thunder @ Spurs, January 24 on ESPN

This won’t be the first matchup between Oklahoma City and San Antonio. This one, however, is featured on NBA’s Rivalry Week, which is new for the Thunder.

San Antonio and Oklahoma City had some all-time battles back when it was Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant versus Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard, but there hasn’t been much of a rivalry recently. With Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama, that’s set to change. Both the Thunder and Spurs have young rosters that are quickly rising towards relevance, and putting the two in a rivalry matchup is one way to jumpstart it.

This should be a fun matchup in the West for years to come, and the first few games could be memorable down the line.

Thunder vs. Mavs, March 14 on TNT

Oklahoma City and Dallas is always a good time, and after Isaiah Joe’s miracle comeback a season ago, the Mavericks will be out for revenge. The two team’s battled it out for the last playoff spot last year and could be around the same spots in the Western conference.

In addition to the matchup itself, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander versus Luka Doncic has been a topic of debate this off-season. The two guards taken in the 2018 draft class have risen towards the top of the NBA, and always provide for entertaining basketball. It should be a fun individual matchup inside the Mavs-Thunder series.

Thunder @ Magic, February 13 on TNT

A day before Valentine’s, Oklahoma City has a nationally televised matchup against the rising Orlando Magic. The team is led by reigning Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero and could make a splash this season.

Finishing behind Banchero in ROTY voting was Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams, who got better and better as the season wore on. The two will square off head-to-head in a mid season matchup that many eyes will be on. Because the game is in February, the trajectory of both teams will be in full swing — and the Thunder and Magic could each be exceeding expectations by that time. If all things go right for both teams, this could be one of the more underrated matchups of the season on the entertainment scale.

Oklahoma City is a step ahead of Orlando with development and a player like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but in terms of young core, Orlando isn’t far behind. This could be a very fun matchup.

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