The first 11 games will be the most important for the OKC Thunder

The NBA world typically works in ten-game sample sizes. Talking to players, coaches, and front office members around the league, the 82-game season is a marathon, but when you break it up into ten-game chunks it does not seem as bad. Re-evaluation after every ten games is typical for organizations, even Mark Daigneault and the OKC Thunder.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will play the toughest schedule in basketball by every metric. The road is tough right out of the shoot for OKC, and their season will be defined by the first 11 games of the season.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have the toughest schedule in the NBA, and we will learn a lot about the OKC Thunder within the first 11 games

The OKC Thunder are already gathering for a mini-camp that features 13 rostered players, headlined by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey, to prepare for the NBA season which is right around the corner. Media Day is slated for the last week of September, training camp follows, and the Thunder play in a pre-season game on October 3rd.

These last few weeks have changed the landscape of Thunder basketball this season, as Oklahoma City sees their prized prospect and number two overall pick in July’s draft, Chet Holmgren, miss the entire season with a Lisfranc injury in his right foot. Last week, the Utah Jazz shipped off Donovan Mitchell to the Eastern Conference which will have ripple effects for OKC as well.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will start their regular season on October 19th in Minnesota against the new look-upstart Timberwolves that project to be a top half of the Western Conference team, with a road tilt to Denver before opening up their home slate with a three-game stretch against the Wolves on October 23rd, and Clippers on the 25th and 27th.

The first 11 games for the OKC Thunder wraps up by taking on the Dallas Mavericks, Orlando Magic, Denver Nuggets, Milwaukee Bucks, Detroit Pistons, and Milwaukee Bucks again. In the first 11 games, nine of them are against playoff teams. The tilt with the Pistons is on the road, and they welcome in Paolo Banchero and the Magic on National Television. The Thunder will be favored to win by Vegas in what? One of these games?

A 1-11 start, in a draft that is loaded with talent, and a season that is off the rails due to one of your best players being out for the season before it starts, is not a recipe for a competitive season.

However, if Mark Daigneault can get this Thunder team to play above their expectation level for the 3rd season in a row, it could be a surprising year in Bricktown.