The Oklahoma City Thunder are still rebuilding their roster, but this year feels different. There is excitement in the air. The fanbase is buzzing again, counting the days until Thunder basketball returns. With a fresh crop of draft picks, the growth of current young players, and the organization seeming ready to take the next step in this rebuild in the near future, everything is trending in the right direction for OKC.
The Thunder brought in four new draft prospects, including the most popular name in the 2022 NBA Draft, Chet Holmgren to pair with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, and the rest of this core. Now with third-year coach Mark Daigneault, a paid Lu Dort, Kenrich Williams locked in long-term, two lottery picks in addition to Holmgren, and a world-renowned shooting coach, it is finally exciting to be a Thunder fan again. Tangible excitement that does not rest in future draft picks.
I can not sit here and promise any huge record improvement, the postseason, or even the play-in tournament for the Thunder. I can only promise that it will be fun to watch Oklahoma City 82 times this season. There are just too many interesting players on this roster to get to that dark place the team landed in at the end of the last two seasons.
What do we know about the Oklahoma City Thunder preseason slate as the NBA season is just around the corner?
Believe it or not, despite not quite being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel yet, basketball is right around the corner. Sure, the month of August is dry besides just a schedule release expected anytime now by the NBA. In September though, things heat up. From Media Day to training camp which pushes us into preseason games in early October.
What do we know about that preseason slate? Well, not much, yet. The Oklahoma City Thunder have only seen three of their preseason games leaked so far. For reference, most teams who have already released their preseason schedule are playing about five games before the regular season. The NBA regular season will tip-off on October 18th.
The first preseason game for the Oklahoma City Thunder will take place on October 5th against the Dallas Mavericks in Tulsa, at the BOK Center.
The Thunder will also play the Adelaide 36ers in the preseason at the Paycom Center which will future Kai Soto. The 36ers of course played host to Josh Giddey during his time in the NBL.
On October 13th, OKC will go on the road and take on the San Antonio Spurs. A homecoming for the team’s new shooting coach, Chip Engelland.
We are still waiting to find out the entire preseason docket for the Oklahoma City Thunder, whenever we have the complete list, TI will have you covered!