What to Look For When the OKC Thunder's Schedule Releases

The Thunder's schedule will be out soon, and there is no shortage of things to look for when it drops.

The NBA is set to release its full 2023-24 schedule on Thursday afternoon.

With it, the Oklahoma City Thunder will know what their next few months will entail. Between long, tough road trips and marquee matchups against the league’s best, the Thunder’s schedule will be full of exciting storylines.

The most intriguing storyline may be the amount of nationally televised games the Thunder will see next season. Games on national TV have been hard to come by in the post-Westbrook era. But after a 40-win season and seemingly turning into a media darling overnight, the Thunder soon may have their fair share of games on ESPN, TNT and ABC.

With the league potentially showcasing OKC more, the team will get to play on national TV in front of a home crowd for the first time since February 2020. The In-Season Tournament schedule revealed one of those games against the Spurs on Nov. 14, with more likely to come in Thursday’s reveal.

It was already revealed that the Thunder missed out on a Christmas Day game, but they could still land a matchup on MLK Day, the other NBA marquee date. While not every game on Jan. 15 will be nationally televised like Christmas, the Thunder could land a trip to Atlanta or Memphis and find themselves on the national stage.

OKC has a special day itself: New Year’s Eve. OKC has hosted a game on Dec. 31 every season since relocating from Seattle in 2008. Last season, the Philadelphia 76ers made the trip for the occasion.

The Thunder’s opening few games could determine if they get off to a better start than the past few seasons. The Thunder have lost at least three of their first four games for five straight seasons. They also opened up with three straight losses last season and four in 2021-22 and 2018-19.

Just as, if not more important than the opening games, will be the schedule in the final few weeks. If the Thunder can get a slate of teams likely to be at the top or bottom of the conference and thus more likely to rest their best players, it could dramatically improve the Thunder’s postseason positioning with how tight the Western conference typically is.

The Thunder’s schedule will also be filled with former players returning, Play-In Tournament rematches and everything in between when all 82 games are revealed.

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