The OKC Thunder has sent Aleksej Pokusevski to their G-League affiliate, the OKC Blue. This is his first stint with the Blue this season, though he did spend time with the G-League organization a year ago in the G-Leauge bubble during the middle of his rookie campaign.
The Oklahoma City Thunder remain in rebuild mode, and Mark Daigneault’s rotation is the main focus for fans more than the scoreboard when the clock hits triple zero’s. One of the Mark Daigneault rotational oddities is the fact Aleksej Pokusevski is floating in a tin can without a steady stream of minutes.
The second-year Serbian is averaging ten fewer minutes per game this season compared to his rookie season. The minutes per game a year ago of course was inflated by the second half of the season as the OKC Thunder missed key pieces and were forced to toss Poku into the fire.
Aleksej Pokusevski did not see a minute’s uptick a year ago until after he completed his tour with the OKC Blue, and this season might play out the same way. Pokusevski has made strong progress with his body frame and does a better job of playing within his role, but the second-year player that came straight to the NBA from a second-division league overseas is still a raw talent that needs polishing.
OKC Thunder send Aleksej Pokusevski to the OKC Blue
Mark Daigneault confirmed this was not a demotion, but rather a tool to polish Poku’s game. The OKC Thunder bench boss also praised Aleksej Pokusevski after practice on Tuesday telling those of us in the media that the teenager is actually “ahead” of where the organization projected him to be at this point.
Given his blooper reel and the cult following around the 17th overall draft pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, that quote from Daigneault sparked a fire on social media with fans pointing to the box score to attempt to disprove this notion.
However, when you take a step back, you realize it is true. Mark Daigneault, Sam Presti, and the OKC Thunder organization have to be encouraged by the fact Poku can at least play minutes in the NBA. Many of the best basketball scouts in, outside, and around the NBA tabbed Aleksej Pokusevski as a project player that likely would not come over to the association right away. The most repeated tagline for Pokusevski is “He is two years away, from being two years away.”
The quote from the OKC Thunder head coach does not mean Poku is otherworldly, or miles ahead, he is just ahead and the organization will look to build on that. With the OKC Blue, it frees up more minutes for Aleksej Pokusevski to play, longer stretches, and more ball-dominate stretches to grow as a player.
The organization will send him down and call him back up frequently this season, including recalling him this afternoon following the OKC Blue’s contest in the Paycom Center so Pokusevski can rejoin his NBA teammates on the bench of tonight’s Thunder game against the Pelicans.