OKC Thunder key no. 2- Theo Maledon will be key
The big news is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is not likely going to play tonight because of a knee injury. Fans may recall seeing him tweak something. At the time he kept playing so the assumption was – – well that looked worse than it was. It also looked more like an ankle but the injury report lists his knee as the problem area.
Looking at three different injury reports find three different status reports. Rotoworld states he is listed as day-to-day. ESPN doesn’t give any reasoning or note if he’ll play using the all-encompassing day-to-day. . CBS offers the most information stating he’ll be out until February 5th.
This puts a ton of pressure on rookie Theo Maledon because George Hill is also out. While there are other guards on the team Maledon is the only positional point guard.
If there is a silver lining John Wall is also expected to sit this game out and while the Rockets have Victor Oladipo and Eric Gordon available to run the point they are both more naturally inclined to the shooting guard position.
Based on how Theo has stepped up during the absence of Hill this is probably a challenge he’s eager to embrace.
While we’ve been consistently stating at Intentions Maledon was a major steal in this draft it was interesting to note in the power rankings this week that other pundits are also saying the same thing now.
On the season Maledon is averaging 7.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 0.7 steals.
Comparatively, in the four games the rookie has started he’s upped those averages to 13.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.0 steals.
He’s also taking more 3-point shot attempts (5.3) and connecting at a ridiculous 57.1 percent — granted the 6 for 6 versus the Nets definitely pads this small four-game sample size. That’s up from 3.8 attempts and 38.0 percent for his seasonal average.
One obvious note is he is getting more minutes as a starter (28.3 versus 19.8) but Daigneault was already starting to lean in that direction as the rookie kept impressing.