OKC Thunder: Player grades feature Poku breakout in loss to Hornets

Wednesday night’s game could have gone either way for the OKC Thunder.

The Thunder matched the Charlotte Hornets well throughout the game, never quite doing enough to grab more than a brief lead in the second quarter and never grabbing a substantial enough lead to create any type of separation between themselves and the Hornets.

Ultimately, the Thunder picked up their fourth consecutive loss for the first time this season.

As Tamberlyn Richardson previously stated, the OKC Thunder are officially embracing the tank.

Injuries are a factor, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Darius Bazley out indefinitely. In addition, Luguentz Dort is out in the concussion protocol program, and Al Horford is out for good. With that, the Thunder are focusing on turning the corner towards the new-age Oklahoma City team.

Along the way, there have been a few pleasant surprises that have given the Thunder reason to believe the future core lies within the current roster.

Wednesday night’s game showed a preview of that.

Most notably was rookie Aleksej Pokusevski, who had a career-high 25 points after catching fire from deep. Theo Maledon also got in on the action with a 25-point game of his own. And even though the outcome was a loss, there are plenty of reasons to be happy about the current path the Thunder are headed down this season.

With that being said, let’s dive into player grades for the Thunder’s loss to the Hornets.