OKC Thunder begin week nine facing the Pelicans

Injuries and projected starting lineups:

Pelicans projected starting lineup:

Based on the myriad of injuries and uncertainty about some players availability the starting rotation could emulate their last game versus the Mavericks:

• Devonte Graham- point guard
• Josh Hart  – shooting guard
• Herb Jones – small forward
• Brandon Ingram- power forward
• Jonas Valanciunas- center’

Pelicans injuries:

• Zion Williamson – imaging showed the broken bone in his foot is not healing as expected so his on-court rehab has been walked back and he won’t do any group contact drills. His return date is once again in flux.
• Kira Lewis Jr. suffered a torn ACL as well as a grade two MCL sprain ending his season.
• Daulton Hommes (fibula) is out indefinitely.
• Didi Louzada Silva continues to serve a 25-game suspension for PED usage.

OKC Thunder injuries:

• Luguentz Dort suffered a leg injury in the Mavericks match when he fell oddly getting entangled with Kristaps Porzingis and won’t play on Wednesday.

History:

The history of meetings in the regular season between these teams has the OKC Thunder holding a 38 win advantage of the 65 occasions they’ve played.

The squads met once prior this season in New Orleans on November 10th with the Thunder besting the Pelicans 108-100.

The teams will meet once more after tonight’s match on Boxing Day also in Oklahoma City. In 2020-21 the Pelicans won the season series two games to one.

Game Specifics:

Venue: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Tip-off: at 7:00 p.m. Central Time (8:00 p.m. EST)

Where to watch: Bally Sports Oklahoma or NBA League Pass

Radio: WWLS 98.1 FM