In their final regular-season practice on Saturday, Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault announced several key players will miss the final game.
The Thunder will play the Memphis Grizzlies at home on Sunday, April 9. Daigneault said Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, Lu Dort, Jalen Williams and Jaylin Williams will sit out that game to rest.
“We just finished 24 games in 43 days — by my math, if I’m right,” Daigneault said. “Four back-to-backs over that time,17 games in March. Pretty grueling schedule. I think most of them were on the road. Everybody’s dealing with something physically.”
After clinching a play-in berth on Friday when the Dallas Mavericks’ lost to the Chicago Bulls, it makes sense for the Thunder to rest their starters in a meaningless game.
The starting five will have six days between games, which means it should be plenty of time to rest and be fully charged for when it matters most.
Not only is Sunday’s game meaningless, but the Thunder might actually benefit from losing to the Grizzlies. It will increase their lottery odds if they end up losing their play-in game.
