The Thunder announced this week that “concerning trends” in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Oklahoma have prompted the team to open the 2020/21 season without fans in Chesapeake Energy Arena.
“We will continue to monitor and evaluate the situation over the coming weeks to determine when fans will be able to attend our games,” the team said in its statement.
It’s a reversal of course for the franchise — the Thunder had initially planned for a limited number of fans to be in attendance at their home games, as Royce Young of ESPN writes. However, the team determined in recent weeks that even significantly reducing the capacity of Chesapeake Energy Arena may not be satisfactory to address health and safety concerns.
Here’s more on the Thunder:
- In a Q&A with Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman, Thunder head of basketball operations Sam Presti explained why he felt the time was right to fully launch the club’s rebuild this offseason. “When you step back and take a clear-eyed, rational view of the season we had last year, and all of the randomness that occurred in our favor, the loss of future value we would be relinquishing for a small probability of replicating those performances, it was clear that the most objective path was to prioritize the future,” Presti said.
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s role as a centerpiece of the Thunder’s rebuild has been unaffected by the significant roster overhaul in Oklahoma City this fall. “We’re putting a lot in faith in him and showing him he’s a central figure to a lot of things we ultimately want to be,” Presti said (Twitter link via Young).
- Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman says that, while he “despises” tanking, he understands why going that route is the best way forward for the Thunder.
- In case you missed it, the Thunder have officially signed No. 17 pick Aleksej Pokusevski to his rookie contract, as we detailed earlier this morning.
Tanking doesn’t make sense anymore with the lack of great talent coming out of college these days. There’s not many (if any) that instantly change the direction of a franchise simply by drafting them anymore. Zion may be the last of this “breed”, and it’s even questionable how good he’ll be over the long haul. No more Tim Duncans or LeBron James‘.
Yoire right young players are becoming less talented lol what are u smoking bro
What are YOU smoking? Players today are drafted on potential! Potential means you haven’t done anything yet. Before, top 5-10 players were drafted on how good they were and ready to help TODAY, not a few years from now.
But, I get it. You’re a young fella and don’t know any better. Keep reading and watching… you have POTENTIAL.
And clearly u have none lol. Your telling me front offices in the past never looked at a players potential when considering drafting them? All first round players for the last 30 years were nba ready as soon as they entered the league?
Here’s a tip: read ur comment out loud to yourself and if it sound stupid dont click post
jump shot– hate to break it to you, but as a fella who has also been around awhile, I think you’re forgetting that LeBron also was drafted on potential. He didn’t play a second of college ball but you’re gonna claim that he was drafted on how good he was… against 5’8 150 pound kids? No, he was drafted on his unlimited ceiling. By the way, Cade Cunningham has looked very good so far.
Haha… You don’t know what you don’t know. Yeah, I knew how good he was. I was there – you weren’t. He wasn’t drafted on potential, believe it. Haha.
Jump shot trying to pick up the pieces after getting dunked on x2…yikes. is there an address I can send a sympathy card
Lil Dunker… I hate to keep interrupting your 2k game but I can tell by your comments that the most basketball you’ve been a part of is
1) the ymca
2) this internet site
3) interactive games
4) me responding to you
Stay safe and drink milk, young fella.
Lol sick burn it’s clear u r also a adult
If what ur saying is true it’s even more embarrassing for u that u got dunked on by someone so inexperienced and ignorant. Look inward…find peace
Lil Dunker Fella… stop liking your own comments.
You better get offline before you miss some tips cleaning off those tables.
“Stop liking your own comments” what did I tell u about reading things out loud before clicking publish lol. What is this middle school? Pop quiz: did more people agree with my side or yours? (Dunked on). Do any of my comments have multiple likes? (Yes, dunked on again). You could fit 2 junpshots in the hole ur digging for urself
Man… u win. Dunked on me 6 times now. Good stuff!
@jumpy shoty… come on dude “Lil’ dunker” is a girl!
Why do you keep on calling her a fella?
Stop picking on girls you bully!
Also she is right by the way, smarten up fella!
El Don why do you think 45 is a girl? I doubt it. If he/she was a girl, she would try to sound like a man! He’s just having fun with us, maybe toking alone.
That’s probably not the first time Don thought sumn was a girl (oops)
Anyone who points out they are an experienced basketball player in a comments section is immediately suspect.
Lebron was special to watch when he was 15, and soon selling out gyms that never had sold out.
But the point I think is that players in the past were more likely to have been the best of the NCAA tournament, and seniors. Nowadays players just have to make scouts believe they could be that good. They don’t have to be that good yet. A 22-yo is considered old and will be marked down.
Also tanking is less crucial because the pingpong balls have been more greatly dispersed. A team could lose and lose and still get blown out with an 8th pick (Knicks). And get Obi Toppin anyway because darn it, he’s like 23, ancient.
And they’re saying this before what many consider to be one of the best drafts in a long time lol.
Living in their own bubble.
There’s a difference between Hinkie-style tanking and rebuilding, as the Thunder are doing. The Sixers went out of their way to be as bad as possible. Meanwhile, the Thunder have some good young talent, and while they won’t make the playoffs next year, they should at least be entertaining.
And they have enough 1st round picks to rule the draft for a few years.
Who else besides SGA and Dort? I would hardly call those two foundation pieces to build a winning team around. They need actual star players like the three they used to have then threw away.
With those two the best OKC can hope to become is what the Blazers have been over the past 5 years with Dame and McCollum.
That’s pretty great at the start of a rebuild with a boatload of high picks coming up. Literally every team in the league would be okay with that.
Well Bazley is a good piece… Poku has the talent to become Porzingis lite… Diallo is super athletic and if he improves his jumper is a solid bench guy. They have young talent. More then the Blazers had when Dame and CJ were babies in the league. SGA is a star in the making. Dort is a solid ROLE player. But if they can team up Cade and SGA that could b one of the best backcourts in the league in a couple years if Cade is as good as advertised. Plus with all those first rounders they can trade up and down to get who they target in whatever draft. There future is def bright if they don’t whiff on ALL there picks or get greedy like the 76ers and make dumb trades.
May as well tank hard this year so it won’t affect attendance.