OKC Thunder: Key NBA dates missing pivotal event

NBA announces pivotal dates on the event calendar that affect OKC Thunder and peers

The OKC Thunder are set to begin training camp although several cuts still need to be made and at least a few core players won’t be on site until December 8th. As Thunderous Intentions noted in our article today that roster could be extremely fluid given the sheer number of players who were part of trade packages.

Executive vice president and general manager, Sam Presti will be tweaking that lineup right up until the opening day. His primary goal at the moment is to find a landing spot for veterans George Hill and Trevor Ariza while building up his draft capital in the process.

In the interim, new head coach Mark Daigneault will assemble the mostly new roster together this week as training camp begins. The Thunder are among the majority of teams who’ll play three preseason games as they face the San Antonio Spurs prior to two dates with former bench boss Billy Donovan and his new Chicago Bulls squad.

The Thunder preseason schedule and all opponents’ preseason dates are available for your perusal here.  

Important dates for OKC Thunder fans

The NBA also served up other important dates to mark on your calendar although one important event appears to be missing.

As noted training camp begins tomorrow (December 1st) when individuals can come in for workouts and will progress to group sessions which can start on Saturday, December 6th.  A big date for Thunder fans is Monday, December 8th as that is the day the club can formalize the Al Horford deal and cement the draft prospect trade of Theo Maledon.

Preseason games will occur between December 11th and 19th while the season opener is slated for December 22nd.

More from Thunderous Intentions

• Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
• Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
• 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

In order to allow for unexpected issues tied to the coronavirus pandemic, the season is being separated into two segments. This week the schedule for the first half of games running between December 22nd and March 4th will be announced.  The second half featuring games running from March 11th to May 16th won’t be listed until close to the All-Star Break.

To that end, while players will still be voted to All-Star teams, the pandemic will force the cancellation of the weekend event but players will have March 5th to 10th off for rest.

The rescheduled Hall of Fame induction ceremony for the 2020 class will be held from May 13th  to 15th. This year is significant as it will posthumously enshrine Kobe Bryant as well as stars Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. Other inductees from this class are Rudy Tomjanovich, Tamika Catchings, Eddie Sutton, and Patrick Baumann.

The league will feature another play-in tournament this season scheduled for May 18th through May 21st. First-round playoff series will start on May 22nd with the NBA Finals running potentially up until July 22nd.

Although the timeline is extremely tight this finish date would allow for players to participate with their national teams in the Toyko Olympics slated to run from July 23rd to August 8th.

Notably missing from the key dates provided by the NBA is the trade deadline. Although it was shifted in recent years to occur prior to the All-Star break it has not been cited in the league’s announcement. Last season it fell on February 6th, ten days prior to the All-Star Game. Presumably, the league will follow a similar timeframe even with no event occurring and slate the trade deadline for the last week of February.