The Oklahoma City Thunder organization believes in utilizing their G-Leauge affiliate, the OKC Blue, as a player development tool for their entire roster. It is why the OKC Thunder fought to send the Blue to the Bubble a year ago while many teams were overjoyed in backing out of the G-League season over the pandemic. Some teams, until recently, did not even have their G-League affiliate!
The OKC Thunder have been shuffling players back and forth from their NBA squad to the Blue like Tre Mann, Aaron Wiggins, Vit Krejci, Theo Maledon, Isaiah Roby, Paul Watson Jr, and even Gabriel Deck for a Blue practice. The organization has been very clear that this is not a demotion, it is an investment in the player to improve their game.
OKC Blue get a huge lift from OKC Thunder training camp invitees
The biggest example of that is Aaron Wiggins, who spent the weekend chasing around a projected top-five pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, Jaden Hardy of G-Leauge Ignite, while also having offensive freedom to work on his game that he otherwise would not have in an NBA setting. Wiggins has already made a great first impression on the organization and seems to be the next in line to have his two-way contract fully converted to a standard deal continuing the OKC Thunder run of rewarding young players.
The 55th overall pick in 2021 locked down Jaden Hardy on Sunday as Hardy struggled to score 20 points on 18 shots, four assists, and five rebounds. Wiggins chipped in 15 offensively, on one miss all night, with three assists and as many rebounds.
Olivier Sarr went for six points and eight rebounds on Sunday, but in Friday’s clash with the Ignite, in a 15 point win the OKC Thunder training camp invitee posted 18 points with six rebounds as the seven-footer only missed one shot. His fellow training camp invitee DJ Wilson turned in 22 points, 11 rebounds, and an assist in his 31 minutes of action Friday, following it up with ten points and nine rebounds on Sunday.
Vit Krejci left the game early on Sunday against the NBA G-Leauge Ignite. It appeared he was favoring his knee, the same knee he just finished rehabbing from an ACL injury, but instead it was a hamstring injury that does not seem too serious.
The OKC Blue are back in action on December 15th in the Paycom Center against the Stockton Kings. The game will be shown on the G-Leauge official website, with tip-off is set for 7 p.m. central, they will play the Kings again on the 17th as the march to the winter cup continues.