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Oklahoma City Thunder guard George Hill underwent surgery today to address a mallet finger injury of his right thumb.
In 14 games (all starts) this season, Hill is averaging 11.8 points and 3.1 assists per contest on 50.8 percent from the field, 38.6 percent from three and 84.0 percent from the line in 26.3 minutes per game.
Hill will be reevaluated in four weeks. The procedure was performed by Steve Shin at the Kerlen-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles, Calif.
Suns point guard Chris Paul had himself a big scoring night against his former Thunder team, scoring 32 points, but it was in a 102-97 losing effort. Via the Arizona Republic:
Blowing a 17-point lead, Phoenix succumbed to offensive fouls, a horrid stretch of 3-point shooting and Deandre Ayton scoring just five points in a 102-97 loss Wednesday night to Oklahoma City at Phoenix Suns Arena.
“Down the stretch, we had unbelievably poor finish,” said a frustrated and upset Suns coach Monty Williams. “We got open shots. We’re missing shots under the basket. It’s just poor. Poor execution and poor finishing. That’s it.”
The Suns (8-8) are 1-5 in their last six games…
Chris Paul scored a season-high 32 in his first game against the Thunder (8-9) since the trade that brought him and Abdel Nader to Phoenix, but lost to his former team that ended a five-game road trip with a stunning victory.
The Suns have been pretty good defensively this season, but surprisingly, their offense is merely average for the league so far this season.
The National Basketball Association game scheduled for tonight between the Philadelphia 76ers and Oklahoma City Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena has been postponed in accordance with the league’s Health and Safety Protocols.
Because of ongoing contact tracing within the Sixers, the team does not have the league-required eight available players to proceed with the scheduled game against the Thunder.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have exercised their fourth-year contract option on guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and its third-year contract options on forward Darius Bazley and guard Ty Jerome.
Gilgeous-Alexander has appeared in 153 career NBA games (144 starts), averaging 14.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.14 steals in 30.3 minutes per game, shooting 47.2 percent from the floor, 35.1 percent from three-point range and 80.2 percent from the charity stripe. During the 2019-20 campaign, he appeared in 70 games (all starts) and averaged a team-leading 19.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.13 steals in 34.7 minutes, shooting 47.1 percent from the field. The Toronto native has represented his team during All-Star weekend in each of his two NBA seasons, playing for Team World in both the 2019 and 2020 Rising Stars Challenges.
Bazley appeared in 61 games (nine starts) as a rookie last season and averaged 5.6 points and 4.0 rebounds (11th among rookies) in 18.5 minutes per contest, shooting 39.4 percent from the floor and 34.8 percent from long range. During the 2020 playoffs, he averaged 6.6 points on 50.0 percent three-point shooting (11-22) to go along with 6.7 rebounds per game.
Jerome appeared in 31 games during the 2019-20 season with Phoenix, averaging 3.3 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 10.6 minutes per contest. The 2019 NCAA Champion was acquired by the Thunder on Nov. 16.
The Oklahoma City Thunder has waived guard Frank Jackson, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti.
Jackson appeared in three preseason games for the Thunder and averaged 12.3 points, 1.0 assist and 2.0 rebounds in 20.1 minutes per game. He was originally signed on Dec. 4.
The Oklahoma City Thunder has waived forwards TJ Leaf and Admiral Schofield.
Leaf appeared in two preseason games with the Thunder, registering eight points and seven rebounds. He was originally acquired from Indiana on Nov. 25.
Schofield appeared in two preseason games with Oklahoma City, grabbing two rebounds and dishing out two assists. He was originally acquired from Washington on Nov. 19.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have signed rookie forward Aleksej Pokuševski.
Drafted first round (17th overall) in the 2020 NBA draft, Pokuševski’s draft rights were acquired from the Timberwolves as part of a three-team trade on November 20.
According to the Oklahoman, “the Thunder now has 18 players under contract for this season, not counting its two players on two-way contracts.”
Pokuševski (7-0, 195) averaged 10.8 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.8 blocks and 1.3 steals in 22.6 minutes in 11 games with Olympiacos B in the Greek Second Division, HEBA A2 during the 2019-20 season as the team went 17-4 and earned a second-place finish in A2. At the 2019 U18 European Championships, the Serbian native averaged 10.0 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.7 steals and led with event with 4.0 blocks per game.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have signed rookie guard Theo Maledon.
Maledon entered the 2020 NBA draft, and was selected in the early second round (34th overall). His draft rights were acquired from the 76ers on December 8.
Listed at 6-foot-5, 180 lbs., Maledon in the 2019-20 season played in France’s Pro A league for ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne. He only started in half the games he played, and averaged 7.3 points, 2.7 assists and 1.9 rebounds in 17.3 minutes per game.
Over the course of his three seasons playing for ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne, Maledon did play in an All-Star game. And in the 2018-19 season he won the Rising Star award.
The Oklahoma City Thunder has signed guard Frank Jackson.
Jackson, listed at 6-foot-3, 205 lbs., has played in 120 career NBA games (18 starts) with the New Orleans Pelicans, averaging 7.2 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 16.4 minutes per game.
During the 2020 NBA Restart in the Bubble at Disney Wide World of Sports, the Duke product appeared in all eight games (one start) with the Pelicans and averaged 10.8 points on 47.3 percent shooting from the field, 2.5 assists and 1.5 rebounds in 17.6 minutes per game, earning the second-highest net rating on the team (8.9) and the third-best assist to turnover ratio (3.33).
The Oklahoma City Thunder waived forward Zylan Cheatham today.
In his rookie NBA season with the New Orleans Pelicans, Cheatham played in four games, for an average of 3.0 points and 2.3 rebounds in 12.8 minutes per game, and 66.7 percent shooting from the field.
The Thunder originally acquired Cheatham from the Pelicans on November 24.