Paul George OUT vs OKC Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is active

The Oklahoma City Thunder are preparing to complete their baseball-style series with the L.A. Clippers on Thursday night in L.A. The OKC Thunder and Clippers have each released their injury report ahead of an important tilt in the Western Conference standings.

On Tuesday, the OKC Thunder earned a massive win over the Los Angeles Clippers. That win planted the Thunder’s flag firmly in the NBA Western Conference Playoff mix, as they sit with a 36-36 record and are in control of the 8th seed in the conference.

The OKC Thunder will face a shorthanded L.A. Clippers squad without Paul George on Thursday night as OKC looks to sweep the Clippers.

The Oklahoma City Thunder sit just a game away from the sixth seed, avoiding the play-in tournament and catapulting their way right into the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs. They are half a game up on the 9th and 10th placed teams while remaining a full game up on the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans, who rest at 11 and 12 on the outside looking in.

The OKC Thunder are on a two-game winning streak, sitting with the best record in the Western Conference over their last ten games and one of the best net ratings since the turn of the calendar year.

This will be game two of a four-game west coast road swing, as the Thunder will take on the Clippers tonight, then the Lakers tomorrow, before ending their trip in Portland against the Blazers on Sunday.

The OKC Thunder have listed Chet Holmgren (foot), Kenrich Williams (wrist), and Aleksej Pokusevski (G-League Assignment) as OUT for this game against the Clippers. However, Mark Daigneault hinted at a Pokusevski return after the OKC Blue wraps up their season on Thursday against the NBA G-League Ignite.

Jared Butler, who is on a two-way deal for the OKC Thunder and previously with the Blue, is now available for the NBA squad tonight in L.A.

For the Clippers, their injury report includes BJ Boston (Tailbone), Norman Powell (shoulder), Moussa Diabate (G-League), Xavier Moon (G-League), and Jason Preston (G-League) as OUT for this contest against the Thunder. In addition to those players, Paul George will not only be out tonight with a knee injury but will be out for at least two to three weeks before he is re-evaluate for the injury suffered at the end of Tuesday’s contest.

As of now, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is not listed on this injury report as the OKC Thunder prepare to navigate through a back-to-back set in L.A. Mark Daigneault said before tip-off of Tuesday’s contest that Oklahoma City was “open-minded” to allowing Gilgeous-Alexander to begin playing in back-to-backs again.

That quote takes on a new meaning when SGA remains active for this game, given that the Thunder already own the tiebreaker over the Clippers but have not secured the tiebreaker over the Lakers. So if the Bricktown boys need to sit Gilgeous-Alexander for one of these games, it could be argued the Lakers game is more important.

However, we will cross that bridge when we get there. As a reminder, these injury reports update hourly, so check back for any changes.

Tonight, the Oklahoma City Thunder look for the sweep over the L.A. Clippers with tip-off slated for 9:30 central time on Bally Sports Oklahoma and NBATV.