The Oklahoma City Thunder could have used a longer break.
With the All-Star break over, the reigning NBA champions remain without three key players as they take the court Friday at home against the Brooklyn Nets.
Oklahoma City announced Thursday that stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams, along with sixth-man Ajay Mitchell, will miss Friday’s game — and more.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who has missed the last five games with an abdominal strain, will be reevaluated in approximately one week. Williams, who reaggravated a right hamstring strain Feb. 11 in Phoenix and missed the final game before the break, will be reevaluated in approximately two weeks.
Mitchell, who hasn’t played since Jan. 21 with an abdominal strain, suffered a sprained left ankle over the break and will be reevaluated in about a week.
The Thunder dropped three of their last five games before the break and are just 7-7 since Jan. 17.
Williams has been limited to just 26 games this season, Isaiah Hartenstein has played just 30 and Mitchell and Alex Caruso have missed significant time as well.
“We’d like to get healthy but you also can’t wait around in terms of continuing to find ways to improve whatever the circumstances are,” Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. “I think we’ve actually done a pretty good job of that. It’s been a little choppy. It’s been hard to find a team rhythm just with the consistency of availability but I think we’ve accomplished some things especially with the individual growth of players.”
Chet Holmgren, who is coming off his first All-Star appearance, will have to continue to carry a bigger load until Oklahoma City’s two other stars return.
Holmgren said he wasn’t too concerned about the Thunder’s tough schedule coming out of the break.
After Friday’s game against the Nets, Oklahoma City’s next three games are against teams in the top five of the Eastern Conference.
“We’ve got to focus on making sure our rotations are sharp, we’re running wide in transition, we’re rebounding on both ends, have each other’s back,” Holmgren said. “We’ve got to worry about that stuff. The schedule is what it is. No matter what you do, it’s not gonna change.”
Oklahoma City is holding opponents to just 11.7 fastbreak points per game, while the Nets are last in the league, averaging just 12 per game.
Brooklyn opened its post-break three-game road trip 112-84 loss to Cleveland on Thursday.
Nets coach Jordi Fernandez was frustrated from the jump in that one, calling a timeout less than two minutes into the game, then again was frustrated with the way his starters came out after halftime.
“It was the lack of effort and readiness. I’m not going to let it fly,” Fernandez said. “… Once again, we know we’re better. Our standards are higher than this and now we’ve got to move onto the next one. We’ve got to hold everybody accountable, myself included, and then go and fight better (Friday).”
Brooklyn has lost 12 of its last 15.
One positive sign for the Nets in Thursday’s loss was the play of recent acquisition Ochai Agbaji, who had 13 points, three rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes in his second game since being traded from Toronto.
Friday’s game is the first of two between the teams this season.
The Thunder swept the series last season, with the Nets’ last win in Oklahoma City coming in November 2021.
