Category: OKC Thunder Blog

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jaylin Williams sustained a concussion during last night’s Oklahoma City Blue game and has been placed in the NBA’s concussion protocol.

Per the NBA’s Concussion Policy, Williams will now begin the NBA-mandated Return-to-Participation Protocol. This process includes a series of steps designed to ensure an athlete exhibits symptom-free behavior before resuming basketball activities. There is no predetermined timetable to complete the protocol, as each injury and player is different and recovery time can vary in each case.

The NBA today announced the Oklahoma City Thunder has been fined $25,000 for violating league injury reporting rules.

The Thunder failed to disclose the game availability status of guard Josh Giddey in an accurate and timely manner prior to the Thunder game vs. the Orlando Magic on Nov. 1 at Paycom Center.

The Oklahoma City Thunder has signed guard Isaiah Joe.

Joe was selected 49th overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2020 NBA Draft and spent two seasons with the team. He appeared in 96 games (two starts) and averaged 3.7 points and 1.0 rebound in 10.3 minutes per game.

The Arkansas native spent two years at the University of Arkansas, where he led the SEC, and ranked fourth in the nation, in three-pointers per game (3.6) in his sophomore season.

The Oklahoma City Thunder exercised its third-year contract options on guards Josh Giddey and Tre Mann and its fourth-year contract option on forward Aleksej Pokuševski.

Giddey earned All-Rookie Second Team honors last season after appearing in 54 games (all starts) and recording averages of 12.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 6.4 assists (first on team) in 31.5 minutes per game. The Australian native was one of only eight players to record those averages during the 2021-22 season. Giddey became the ninth player since 2000 to earn the first four Rookie of the Month honors and is the 13th player all-time to accomplish the feat since the award’s inception in the 1981-82 season.

Mann appeared in 60 games (26 starts) this past year and averaged 10.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 22.8 minutes per game. Among official rookie league leaders, he ranked eighth in three-point field goal percentage (.360), ninth in free throw percentage (.793) and 10th in points. The Florida product posted the third-best scoring average by a Thunder rookie with at least 20 games played in Oklahoma City history.

Pokuševski has appeared in 106 career games (40 starts) with the Thunder and owns averages of 7.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 21.9 minutes per game since being selected with 17th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. He became the 12th youngest player in NBA history to record a triple-double (20 years, 98 days) when he registered 17 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 12 assists on April. 3, 2022.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have hired Chip Engelland and Grant Gibbs as assistant coaches.

Engelland and Gibbs join current Thunder assistants Dave Bliss, Mike Wilks and David Akinyooye, as well as Assistant Coach/Player Development Eric Maynor and Assistant Coach/Program Development Connor Johnson, on Head Coach Mark Daigneault’s staff.

Additionally, Kameron Woods has been named head coach of the Oklahoma City Blue.

Engelland joins the Thunder with 23 years of NBA coaching experience. He spent the last 17 seasons with the Spurs as an assistant coach, where he won two NBA championships (2007, 2014). The California native began his coaching career as a shooting analyst for the Detroit Pistons before transitioning to work for the Nuggets for two seasons as director of player of development. A graduate of Duke University, Engelland played four seasons for the Blue Devils, becoming team captain in his senior year. He also enjoyed a nine-year professional playing career in the Philippines, Canada and the CBA.

Gibbs joins the Thunder bench after serving as head coach of the Blue for the past three seasons. He becomes the third Blue head coach to join the Thunder coaching staff. During the 2021-22 season, Gibbs helped lead the Blue to the Championship Game in the first year of the G League Showcase Championship Cup. He joined the Thunder organization originally as a Blue assistant coach in 2017 after a three-year international playing career that included stints in the Netherlands and Germany. Gibbs enjoyed a successful collegiate playing career at Gonzaga and later at Creighton where he served as team captain.

Woods is set to take over head coaching duties with the Blue after spending the past four seasons with the organization, most recently serving as a Thunder assistant coach. The Butler product played two seasons with the Blue (2015-2017) before starting his coaching career. This past July, Woods served as head coach of the Thunder’s summer league team where he led Oklahoma City to a record of 5-3 during summer league competition in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will play six 2022-23 NBA preseason games, with three games in the state of Oklahoma.

The Thunder opens the preseason with a trip to play the Denver Nuggets on Oct. 3 before returning home to Oklahoma beginning on Oct. 5 versus the Dallas Mavericks at the BOK Center. Oklahoma City will play two international opponents at home, hosting the Adelaide 36ers on Oct. 6 and the Maccabi Ra’anana on Oct. 9 at Paycom Center. The Thunder’s preseason schedule wraps with two road games, playing the Detroit Pistons on Oct. 11 before the preseason finale at the San Antonio Spurs on Oct. 13.

The Oct. 13 game at San Antonio will be carried live on Bally Sports Oklahoma. The remainder of the preseason games will be streamed live via the Thunder Mobile App and at okcthunder.com. All games will air live on the Thunder Radio Network, led by flagship station WWLS, The Sports Animal (98.1 FM).