The Oklahoma City Thunder have done plenty right through the early part of the season.
The defending champions enter Thursday’s home game against the Washington Wizards as the NBA’s lone 5-0 team.
Yet the Thunder rank last in the league in 3-point shooting at 28.8%.
“Our share of high-quality threes is lower right now than it was last season,” Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. ” … It can be slippery when you start overreacting to a very small sample, but the quality is down a little bit. That’s one of the things that we have to address and try to improve as we continue on here.”
The Thunder are coming off a 107-101 come-from-behind win over Sacramento on Tuesday in the opener of a three-game homestand.
Luguentz Dort missed five of six threes Tuesday and is shooting just 17.9% from beyond the arc after making a career-high 41.2% of his attempts last season.
But Dort, who was a first-team All-Defensive Team player last year, continues to evolve on the defensive end.
“I feel like I know what I’m doing on the court. I know what I’m capable of,” Dort said. “Just watching more film and learning players’ tendencies and stuff like that is something I always can get better at.”
The Wizards have lost their last two games and three of four to start the season. They’re coming off a 139-134 overtime loss to Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Washington is expected to have forward Bilal Coulibaly available for the first time this season against the Thunder.
Coulibaly averaged 12.3 points and 3.4 assists last season, but he sustained a ligament tear in his right thumb during the offseason that required surgery.
The Wizards surrendered 139 points in consecutive games and own one of the league’s worst defensive ratings (119.1 points allowed per 100 possessions, ranking 26th out of 30 teams).
“I’m just ready to play hard,” Coulibaly said. “We need a little bit of defense and I think I’ll be able to step that up a little bit.”
One of Washington’s bright spots has been the offensive progression of second-year big man Alex Sarr, the second overall draft pick in 2024.
Sarr is averaging 19.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.0 blocks so far.
He had 31 points and 11 rebounds in Tuesday’s loss. Sarr has five assists in each of his last three games.
“I don’t think people talk enough about his passing ability, and his ability to see the game,” Wizards coach Brian Keefe said. “We like to play through him. … He can make the reads. He’s got a good feel for the game and we’re going to continue to do more of that.”
Marvin Bagley III is questionable with a right ankle sprain for Washington.
Chet Holmgren (back soreness) will miss his second straight game for the Thunder after sitting out Tuesday.
Oklahoma City has beaten the Wizards in each of their last six meetings. Washington’s last win in the series came in January of 2022.
–Field Level Media
