The Oklahoma City Thunder should look a lot more like themselves on Wednesday night.
After opening their five-game preseason schedule Tuesday in Tulsa against the New Orleans Pelicans with most of their regular rotation sitting out, the Thunder are expected to get those familiar faces back on the floor against the Milwaukee Bucks at Paycom Center. That alone changes the feel of the night. It also gives Oklahoma City a first real chance to peek at some of the questions hanging over this team before the games start counting.
Chief among them: what does Shai Gilgeous-Alexander look like with more pieces around him?
Gilgeous-Alexander spent the offseason working away from Team Canada and into his own summer training, with a focus on adding another wrinkle to his game. At Media Day, he made it clear the goal was broader than any one skill.
"Every season, and every off-season, I use it to try to find ways to become a more well-rounded basketball player. And that was just an area of the game where I felt like I could be a better basketball player.
And some summers, it's defense; some summers, it's off-the-dribble shooting; some summers, it's posting up. And yeah, nothing more than that.
Just try to become the best basketball player I can be when it's all said and done," Gilgeous-Alexander explained at Media Day.
That sets up an interesting wrinkle for tonight. With Jalen Williams expected back in the starting lineup and Cason Wallace potentially taking on more on-ball responsibilities, there’s at least a chance Gilgeous-Alexander spends more time away from the ball and attacks off the catch. A preseason game is the cleanest place to see whether that’s something Oklahoma City actually wants to build into its identity.
Williams is another major piece worth watching closely. He’s set to return for the 2026-27 season after a 2025-26 campaign derailed by injuries, and his movement will be under the microscope from the jump. Even in a limited preseason sample, the expectation here is that he’ll show he still belongs firmly among the league’s best.
Then there’s Chet Holmgren, whose regular season last year featured career-best numbers and an All-NBA nod as he helped push the Thunder through the first two rounds of the playoffs with sweeps of the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers. But the postseason also exposed some issues, especially against the San Antonio Spurs, when smaller defenders were able to cross-match onto him and make life harder when he couldn’t rise over closeouts cleanly.
So tonight’s checklist for Holmgren starts with the shot. Is the jumper higher, quicker, and smoother?
But it doesn’t stop there. Oklahoma City will want to see whether he has added new scoring moves, whether he’s attacking the rim more aggressively, and whether he’s choosing to roll harder instead of drifting into pops.
His offensive evolution is one of the biggest questions surrounding the Thunder, and the preseason opener against Milwaukee is the first chance to start getting answers.
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