3 Takeaways from the OKC Thunder Blue and White scrimmage

The OKC Thunder kicked off their season with their annual Blue and White scrimmage. Here’s what fans learned.

Ah yes, basketball. It is finally back. After a summer that took many twists and turns and saw a ton of lows and yet still a few highs, it is finally time for OKC Thunder basketball. While the Blue and White scrimmage are not always prone to huge takeaways, there were a few things we learned from this afternoon’s scrimmage at the Thunder ION.

After Andre Roberson said he was a “Full go.” for this training camp, and preseason and reports surfaced that he would see game action on Sunday afternoon, the wing who has been sidelined since January of 2018, did not play in today’s scrimmage.

The Starters for today’s scrimmage:

As you can see by the starters, and with the bench not being any more even, the Blue team was at a significant disadvantage in this contest. However, they were still able to keep it close in the first two of their three quarters.

The biggest reason was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Three takeaways from the OKC Thunder Blue and White Scrimmage

The Fresh Prince of OKC

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is absolutely ready to be the face of the franchise, and the most exciting player to watch on the roster. Throughout the afternoon, SGA continued to have confidence and swagger about him.

While it is a scrimmage, he is still going up against NBA level players and NBA level starters on the other side and yet he pulled up from three without hesitation, a skillset that he did not always have. Shai would shy away at times from the perimeter a year ago. Not this afternoon, he shot the trey ball with confidence  He also just looked incredibly smooth with the basketball all day long.

If you are wondering if the OKC Thunder is leaning into him being their new face of the franchise the answer is yes. Punctuating that fact, the team had the second-year point guard address the crowd prior to the game.