The Oklahoma City Thunder held practice on Friday a day after their big win over the Los Angeles Lakers.
OKC — who sits at 12-6 and in third place of the Western Conference standings — now prepares for its Saturday road game against the Dallas Mavericks.
Following practice, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault and guard Isaiah Joe spoke with the media. Daigneault talked about his rotation decisions and Joe talked about Arkansas’ recent big win over Duke.
Daigneault also talked about Jalen Williams’ comments on the rest of the league finally respecting the Thunder after spending years being one of the worst teams in the league.
Here’s a quick recap of how the Thunder’s practice went:
Today’s Thunder practice: pic.twitter.com/ojaC9w22Vd
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) December 1, 2023
Mark Daigneault on Cason Wallace’s shooting: “He lets the game tell him what to do… (He) tends to lean towards functionality. One of the things we can help him is encourage him to be more aggressive.”
Mentioned that he recently spoke to him about being less timid on his drives
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) December 1, 2023
Mark Daigneault on Chet: “He’s obviously on a really great path, on a great trajectory. This is what he looks like, really having no idea what he’s doing in the NBA yet — relative to where he’ll be (1-2-10) years from now.”
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) December 1, 2023
Mark Daigneault on playing Lindy Waters III over others like Poku & Mann: pic.twitter.com/sgDp9O3bsS
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) December 1, 2023
Mark Daigneault on if Davis Bertans’ revised contract will affect his playing time: “(His contract) has not had any barring of what I’ve done to this point. I know what’s best for the team regardless of anybody’s contract.”
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) December 1, 2023
Mark Daigneault on this: “I think we gained some respect from the league last year. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that. I thought last year, we were a team that needed to earn respect… We didn’t shy away from admitting that… If you don’t show up against us, we’re gonna show up.” https://t.co/gAjCDVhxiC
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) December 1, 2023
Isaiah Joe on Arkansas’ win over Duke: “Being able to play in front of those fans, they’re amazing. They’re real passionate. They bring a lot of energy and it helps us throughout the game. Definitely a big win, I was locked in.”
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) December 1, 2023
Mark Daigneault says Cason Wallace’s efficiency is sort of a result of him leaning toward functionality. Also says he met with him to try to nudge him to be less timid on drives.
“We don’t want to box him in to be a narrow player.”
— Joel Lorenzi (@jxlorenzi) December 1, 2023
Head Coach Mark Daigneault on the comparisons between Kevin Durant and Chet Holmgren: https://t.co/piCmKPYf41 pic.twitter.com/6f7xg4XMYk
— 𝗔𝗱𝗱𝗮𝗺 𝗠. 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼 (@AddamFrancisco) December 1, 2023
