Thunder Starters To Sit In Preseason Debut

Oklahoma City Thunder fans will finally see their favorite team play basketball again on Tuesday night.

Well, make that about half of their favorite team to be precise. 

Mark Daigneault announced on Monday afternoon that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Cason Wallace, Isaiah Hartenstein, Alex Caruso, Nikola Topic and Thomas Sorber would sit OKC's preseason debut. The Thunder head coach told local media the decision was made due both to the team having a high intensity practice on Sunday and Tuesday being the first of a back to back set.

While those eight players will miss the annual game at the BOK Center in Tulsa, they will travel with the team and support from the sidelines. Sam Presti had previously stated during his preseason press conference that Topic and Sorber were still not quite ready to return to play as they recover from injuries.

Daigneault said Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams, Holmgren, Wallace, Hartenstein and Caruso will play on Wednesday night in Oklahoma City. The Thunder host the new look Milwaukee Bucks on the second night of the back to back set. It will be the first game in Loud City since the heartbreaking Game 7 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals.

Thunder fans in Tulsa will still have plenty of popular and talented players to cheer on despite the starters missing the game. Fan favorites Ajay Mitchell, Jared McCain, Jaylin Williams and Kenrich Williams are all slated to play. They will be joined by 1st Round rookies Aday Mara and Bennett Stirtz as well as two-way players Brooks Barnhizer, Otega Oweh and Josh Dix.

Mitchell and McCain in particular carry a great deal of intrigue headed into their third NBA seasons. The two guards from the 2024 NBA Draft class are both expected to take on bigger roles with the Thunder this season. A Sixth Man of the Year award could be in the cards for Mitchell if the dynamic scorer and playmaker has a healthy campaign. And McCain will take the baton from Isaiah Joe as OKC's bench sharpshooter and microwave scorer.

The most fascinating players to watch in Tulsa, though, may be two guys who have yet to play one minute in the NBA. Mara's massive size and equally gaudy basketball IQ should be far more apparent surrounded by his Thunder teammates than the small sample size from a ragtag group in Summer League. Stirtz will have the chance to play with other ball handlers, playmakers and shot creators than he did in Utah and Las Vegas which will give allow his off ball shooting and scoring some space to breathe.

OKC may be without their starters for their 2026-2027 preseason debut, but they may be the one team in the league that can be without six of their top seven players and still have plenty of reasons to tune in to the game.