The OKC Thunder are set to kick off Media Day Monday Morning, their first practice will be on Tuesday, with preseason basketball tipping off in a week! The Nets take on the Lakers next Sunday, with the Thunder welcoming in the Hornets next Monday.
We have survived the albeit short offseason! I am counting down the hours until I can click in on the Thunder PR zoom link for Media Days and ask Shai Gilgeous-Alexander about his grateful dead attire to see if he is a deadhead, like me. The most important part about the dawn of this NBA season is that the Oklahoma City Thunder enter training camp healthy.
OKC Thunder enter 2021-22 without injuries
The NBA landscape has already been shifted with preseason injuries as well as lingering injuries. Patrick Williams of the Chicago Bulls will be sidelined 4-to-6 weeks, Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors is targeting a Christmas Day return, Pascal Siakam of the Raptors will miss a month of the season, even the Nuggets will be without Jamal Murray to start the year.
Everyone hopes their squad can be fully healthy for the length of every season, but the cold reality is injuries are part of the game. The OKC Thunder dealt with their share a season ago, most notably being forced to shut down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander due to a foot injury.
injuries even impacted the Oklahoma City Thunder during the NBA Summer League in Vegas a month ago when they lost their sixth overall pick Josh Giddey to an ankle sprain.
Thunder General Manager Sam Presti met with those of us in the media on Friday for his portion of OKC Thunder media day and announced that the franchise is not dealing with preseason injuries as of now. While we will talk with the rest of the Thunder roster on Monday morning, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey are a full-go for training camp.
Josh Giddey has mentioned on Tik Tok that he is already in Oklahoma City playing pick-up games with his teammates, even giving a shoutout to veteran forward Kenrich Williams labeling him as one of his favorite pickup partners.
The Bricktown boys are fortunate to be at full strength to start training camp this week, and it will pay dividends as the team looks to develop their young players into cornerstone pieces. Which OKC Thunder player are you most looking forward to seeing this season?