What to Watch For in OKC Thunder vs. Sacramento Kings

The 2025-26 campaign has been full of obstacles for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Not only has OKC played a league-high nine games already, to the tune of a 8-1 record, but the Thunder have dealt with critical injuries out of the gate losing the most games played along the way.

This marks the Thunder's second long road trip and one that has been a logistical nightmare. I am tired just thinking about the team jetting from Oklahoma City to L.A. before going up to Portland and now returning down to Sacramento only to depart from Sac Town tonight and head all the way over Beale Street to take on the Memphis Grizzlies and finish this four-game road swing.

A five-game stretch spread across just seven days just isn't sustainable even for a fully healthy roster. Much less for a team turning in an Injury Report the length of a CVS receipt. All-NBA swingman Jalen Williams has yet to debut as he rehabs from wrist surgery this offseason to repair torn ligaments suffered at the end of the 2024-25 regular season. Veteran big man Kenrich Williams and rookie guard Nikola Topic have also spent the season in street clothes.

Oklahoma City has also missed Isaiah Joe, Alex Caruso, Chet Holmgren and Lu Dort for multiple games.

Heading into Friday Night, as the Oklahoma City Thunder open up their NBA Cup slate, the Bricktown Ballers see a six man injury report. Jalen Williams, Aaron Wiggins, Kenrich Williams, Nikola Topic and Thomas Sorber as out. Defensive-Ace Lu Dort is questionable for this contest.

The Sacramento Kings will be without Keegan Murray in this contest while All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis is tabbed as questionable.

What to Watch For

The Sacramento Kings has lit up the scoreboard recently as they stop pretending they are capable of playing defense while seeing Russell Westbrook get jump started with his new team, a bounce back week from Domantas Sabonis when he has been healthy along with Zach Lavine and DeMar DeRozan splashing in jumpers over defenders in the mid-range. Ideally for Sac Town, who nearly pulled off the upset ten days ago against Oklahoma City, this game turns into a track meet. With both Jalen Williams and Aaron Wiggins on the pine, will the Thunder have enough offensive firepower to outlast the Kings? Will Oklahoma City have enough physical and lengthy defenders to disrupt the Kings mid-range firepower.

Along those same lines, superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had an uncharacteristic game on Wednesday against the Portland Trail Blazers, in the Oklahoma City Thunder's first loss of the year, the guard was inefficient en route to 35 points while looking visibly gassed. He not only has needed to log plenty of minutes to start this season but has been tasked with shouldering the biggest load offensively. While the Kings defense shouldn't have a chance to deter Gilgeous-Alexander, does he have enough gas in the tank to win a shoot out?

With Chet Holmgren back in the fold to team up with Isaiah Hartenstein, if Sabonis plays, can the Oklahoma City Thunder once again make his life miserable? The Kings All-Star couldn't wait to get out of dodge as he missed layups and fumbled entry passes away in the first meeting in Bricktown. Can OKC's front court give him fits again?

Game Information

Date: Nov. 7
Matchup: OKC Thunder (8-1) vs. Sacramento Kings (3-5)
Time: 09:00 PM CT
Location: Golden 1 Center –– Sacramento, CA
TV: FanDuel OK
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM)

Up next, the Oklahoma City Thunder are heading to Memphis to finally wrap up this road trip against the Grizzlies in a cross-country trip after living on the West Coast for a week. Stay tuned to Thunder on SI for complete coverage of this season.