OKC Thunder vs. Atlanta Hawks What to Watch For

The Oklahoma City Thunder cruise into Saturday's contest with the Atlanta Hawks a perfect 2-0, after back-to-back double overtime thrillers that saw the Thunder knock off the Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers.

Though, there have been no shortage of bumps in the road for OKC to this point. After owning the best point differential in NBA history a year ago, they have picked up a couple of win by the thinnest of margins. Wins are wins, you would much rather win ugly than lose pretty, but this is also a byprouct of a mounting injury report.

Oklahoma City has missed out on key contributors. All-NBA forward Jalen Williams, lottery pick Nikola Topic, veteran forward Kenrich Williams and sharpshooter Isaiah Joe have yet to make their season debuts while rookie big man Thomas Sorber is out for the season. Defense aces Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace missed the second game of the season with Caruso still tabbed as out as the veteran forward is in the NBA's concussion protocol.

Now, Chet Holmgren finds himself on the injury report with back soreness. While the Gonzaga product is tabbed as questionable and will not see his status updated until closer to tip-off it is going to be a difficult game to manage for the Thunder's third game of the 2025-26 campaign.

What to Watch For

Superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dropped 35 points in the team's season opening win before following that up with a career-night on Thursday en route to 55 points in the Thunder's 2-0 star. He must continue to be on a scoring rampage to lift this Thunder offense to wins on this shorthanded road trip. The question becomes, how much left in the tank does he have after a pair of grueling games and a shortened offseason?

The Oklahoma City Thunder need Ajay Mitchell to continue his red hot start to the season. His scoring punch in the two opening games has been much needed, the ability to get downhill and generate offensive on the ball is much needed given the lack of their No. 2 scoring threat as the Santa Clara product is in street clothes.

Can the Thunder finally break out of this shooting slump? They had posted 24% and 28% respectively from beyond the arc to date this season, that must improve to continue this winning streak.

Game Information

Date: Oct. 25
Matchup: OKC Thunder (2-0) @ Atlanta Hawks (1-1)
Time: 6:30 PM CT
Location: State Farm Arena –– Atlanta, GA
TV: FanDuel Sports OK, NBATV
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM)

Up next, the Oklahoma City Thunder continue this road trip with a venture to the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Monday night. Stay tuned to Thunder on SI for complete coverage of the Oklahoma City Thunder season.