Thunder rests starters while Nuggets ponder seeding implications. See which stars might play in this pivotal, yet strategically altered, late-season clash.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are set to face the Denver Nuggets on Friday night in a game that, at one point in time, had the chance to be potentially the biggest game of the year for the Thunder given playoff seeding. But after solidifying the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and the best record in the NBA on Wednesday, the Thunder’s game against the Nuggets and the season finale against the Suns are now effectively meaningless. There is nothing to gain by winning and nothing to lose by dropping the contest.
And so, as expected, the Thunder’s injury report is extremely long.
- Alex Caruso — Out
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — Out
- Isaiah Hartenstein — Out
- Chet Holmgren — Out
- Isaiah Joe — Out
- Ajay Mitchell — Out
- Thomas Sorber — Out
- Cason Wallace — Out
- Jalen Williams — Out
- Jaylin Williams — Out
With only a handful of players made available for this contest, most of which are role players and end-of-the-bench two-way guys.
Now, what’s interesting is Denver is also playing a bit of the injury game. Depending on how the Lakers-Warriors game shakes out on Thursday night, that could directly impact how much Denver needs to win on Friday against the Thunder in order to continue making a push for the No. 3 seed over the Lakers. And so, currently, the Nuggets’ best three players, Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Aaron Gordon, are listed as questionable.
The assumption is that if the Lakers lose and the Nuggets have less pressure to win this game for their own seeding, those some of three guys might get a rest. But if the Lakers win and they remain on Denver’s heels, then it’s safe to assume that some, if not most, of that trio will be taking the floor and looking to get a victory over the short-handed Thunder.
And so, while this isn’t the biggest game for the Thunder’s playoff seeding, it is a significant game in terms of playoff path because if the Nuggets can solidify the No. 3 seed, they would take on the San Antonio Spurs in the second round, meaning the Thunder would avoid having to play both the Nuggets and the Spurs in their path to the NBA Finals, which is significant given those are the clear second- and third-best teams in the Western Conference.
And so, it’ll be interesting to see how this game unfolds.