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Brandon Rahbar: Sam Presti: "Chris Paul is another guy. He's obviously not just a factor in our history but basketball in Oklahoma.. We played Russell in the playoffs. For him to be in the building in these situations, you have to look back on it and take it all in."
Oklahoma forward Jalon Moore suffered a torn Achilles in a pre-draft workout. Moore was a potential second-round pick in the upcoming 2025 NBA Draft. Moore's agent Mike Silverman of Equity Sports was critical of the workout process leading up to the NBA Draft. "We're truly heartbroken for Jalon. It's time to revamp the NBA pre-draft process. Flying around the country to perform intense competitive workouts exposes players to risk of major injuries. No other pro sports league puts their draft prospects in this position," Moore told ESPN.
We repeat: The exact order after Flagg and Harper remains TBD, but numerous league executives who specialize in gathering draft intelligence have conveyed that Baylor freshman VJ Edgecombe, Rutgers forward Ace Bailey, Texas scorer Tre Johnson, Oklahoma point guard Jeremiah Fears, Duke freshman Kon Kneuppel and Blue Devils big man Khaman Maluach are the six players commanding the most interest … although Bailey is indeed no longer seen as the top-three lock he once was. "If it's not those eight [in the top eight], it will be seven of those eight,” said one Eastern Conference executive.
Brandon Rahbar: Jalen Williams on OKC fans: “It feels like the court is shaking when we’re here.. It’s just so loud here. It’s deafening. It’s definitely a special thing to be a part of Oklahoma and the team.” pic.x.com/C8gnnI2Sk8
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Thousands of Vietnamese refugees actually settled in Oklahoma City after the fall of Saigon in 1975. There are about 30,000 Oklahomans who have Vietnamese roots, according to a story about the Vietnamese Asian community in 2023 by The Oklahoman newspaper. It is not uncommon for Vietnamese and Asian fans to attend Thunder games wearing Jaylin Williams jerseys and for them to approach her and her son for pictures and autographs, Linda Williams said. “The Vietnamese community here has been so gracious,” Linda Williams said. “They call me family here. [Season-ticket holder] Long Tran calls me Cuz when he sees me. You see so many Vietnamese fans with Jaylin’s jersey on. They reach out to him on Instagram. And here, they take selfies with me. It’s been really delightful to be with the fan base here.”
In a post on X, senators Todd Young of Indiana and James Lankford of Oklahoma laid out the terms of their bet. Should the Oklahoma City Thunder win the NBA Finals, Young will wear an Oklahoma City jersey. If the Indiana Pacers win the best-of-seven series, Lankford will have to wear an Indiana jersey.
Governor Kevin Stitt and Indiana Governor Mike Braun are waging a friendly bet over the NBA Finals. In an exchange on social media, Gov. Braun stated he would send Oklahoma "Indiana’s finest pork" if the Pacers lose the series. Gov. Stitt accepted the challenge and offered up some Oklahoma-raised steaks in the event the OKC Thunder does not clinch the Finals.
Indiana’s team flight was unable to land directly in Oklahoma City on Tuesday due to tornado weather in the area, according to a report by KOCO-TV in OKC. As a result, the team flight was diverted to nearby Tulsa instead. The report does add that the Pacers, who took off from Indianapolis, were eventually able to land at Will Rogers International Airport in Oklahoma City, O.K. just before 7 PM CST (after taking off just before 2 PM CST). You can read the full report on the situation here.
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Former Notre Dame forward Tae Davis announced Monday morning that he'll enter the NBA Draft process while also maintaining his collegiate eligibility and committing to Oklahoma.
"There's a through line to that whole process starting with our evaluation of him at Oklahoma, and in particular at the combine, and it was really his competitive nature that stood out the most," said Lakers VP of Basketball Ops Rob Pelinka. "You could just tell, every play mattered to him. And then he brought that in when he came for our draft workout. The way he approached that whole day, that's the Austin Reaves competitive throughline is that he has that spirit of competition with everything he does. That's something you bet on. And on draft night, that's what led us to the (two-way contract) commitment."
The fact that Reaves went undrafted may have had something to do with his poor 3-point percentage as a guard at Oklahoma. Perhaps because he was asked to do so much creating on the ball, Reaves shot just 25.9% as a junior and 30.5% as a senior, numbers that seem odd in hindsight for a guy that's now a career 36.8% shooter in four NBA seasons. This year, Reaves has made 188 threes with five to go, the 2nd-most in Lakers history, despite missing seven games. "The one area during the draft process he didn't have was the consistent shooting, but we like to evaluate the mechanics of shooting, knowing that reps will lead to increased effectiveness, and he had good follow through, good spin on the ball, good arch, so all the things you look for in a shot," Pelinka recalled. "It was just getting the reps in to become a shot maker, and that's where he's gone from a really good player to now a great player, because he's a shot maker."
SI: You got to Oklahoma just as they started to rebuild. They traded Russell Westbrook, traded Paul George. What was that first year like? Lugentz Dort: It all started at Summer League for me. That’s when that trade happened, when we brought Shai and then I think that’s when Russ got traded around the same time. And after that for me it was just find a way to get some playing time. I spent most of the early year with the G League. I probably played about 20 games and when some of the guys went down [with injuries], I was the only one that they could call up. So that’s why I got my real chance. And then after a couple of games, I was starting, and then from there, I haven’t seen G League since.
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