Weekly notebook: Basketball begins for the OKC Thunder

Ah, another week begins! This time, as we crack open the laptop and brew the coffee, Monday does not seem so bad because the Oklahoma City Thunder are back in action! After a long offseason, the OKC Thunder have completed Media Day, and training camp, and now it is time for their six-game preseason slate.

The Oklahoma City Thunder held their annual media day last Monday, a full week of training camp storylines to follow, and now they prepare to play four games in the next seven days this week. In this edition of the weekly notebook, highlights from media day, what to watch for in preseason, and the roster continues to shuffle.

The Oklahoma City Thunder play basketball this week! The OKC Thunder weekly notebook touches on roster shuffle, media day, and the NBA preseason

At media day, the best thing to happen was for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to address the never-ending trade rumors surrounding the OKC Thunder star for no reason. Gilgeous-Alexander made it known he does not pay attention to social media, but even went a step further saying he believes in this team, adding ” I know what I signed up for.”

The Oklahoma City Thunder made a key hirer this offseason bringing in one of, if not the, best shooting coach in the NBA, Chip Engelland. The new assistant coach is already working with Josh Giddey “2-3 times a day”, and has been seen at practice working with Ousmane Dieng and Lu Dort.

Chet Holmgren spoke with the media for the first time since his injury, and Holmgren let it be known he has spoken with Joel Embiid and Nick Collison about the process of missing your first NBA season.

The Oklahoma City Thunder made a few trades this week, dealing Vit Krejci to the Atlanta Hawks before making a huge trade with the Houston Rockets that shuffled the back end of the roster. Take a look at the updated roster before preseason tips off here.

With the preseason tipping-off today, what should you be watching for? Of course, the OKC Thunder will be without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Chet Holmgren is set to miss the entire season, but there are still a lot of young players to watch. From the rookies to the improving sophomores, and even how Darius Bazley, Aleksej Pokusevski, and Lu Dort can improve.

Next week, we will be able to recap NBA games!