What to Watch For in OKC Thunder vs. L.A. Clippers

Oklahoma City is a perfect 7-0 to start this season. This ties a franchise best mark with last year's championship club to start a season. The Thunder have done this through no shortage of adversity. OKC has yet to see their entire team healthy for the same game.

So far, All-NBA forward Jalen Williams has yet to make his season debut. Defensive ace Alex Caruso has been in street clothes for three games, the same amount as rising star Chet Holmgren who hasn't played in a week. This on top of missing sharpshooter Isaiah Joe for the first four games, seeing Cason Wallace in street clothes once and still waiting for Nikola Topic and Kenrich Williams to log a minute this season. All the while having rookie Thomas Sorber out for the entire season with a torn ACL.

Despite this adversity, the Thunder's 7-0 start has a chance to be parlayed into an 8-0 outburst out of the gate to produce a new record for the Bricktown Ballers' best ever start to a campaign. Standing in their way is the L.A. Clippers, who are on the second night of a back-to-back as they welcome in the reigning champions.

Here is what to watch for in this contest.

What to Watch For

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is first up on most everyone's agenda when watching a Thunder game. However, this one just means more. Not only is there a chance at a historic 8-0 start, but Gilgeous-Alexander broke charecter during the Netflix Starting 5 series to reveal he gets up for these contests against his former team after previously playing coy with that sentiment. This short handed Oklahoma City club will need him to will them to a win, what does he have in store tonight?

Ajay Mitchell has been a welcomed addition to this Thunder rotation, a spot he held at the beginning of the 2024-25 season before being knocked out due to injury. Mitchell has scored in double-figures in all seven games to date to pick up some of the scoring slack left behind by the Thunder missing an All-NBA swingman. However, watch for Mitchell's efficiency tonight - it has dipped at the end of this week and we all know progression for young player's isn't linear. How does the second year guard fair under the L.A. spotlight?

The Oklahoma City Thunder are off to a dreadful start from downtown, spending this season as the worst 3-point shooting squad in the month of October. However, in the team's first game on the November docket, they tossed in 20 triples on 41% shooting from downtown. Jaylin Williams got going from distance, could this trend continue on the left coast?

Can Chet Holmgren continue his offensive explosion to start this season as he returns to the lineup against the Clippers? Through the first four games of this season, Holmgren is averaging 23 points, 10.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.3 blocks per game while shooting 57% from the floor, 41% from beyond the arc and 85% at the charity stripe.

Game Information

• Date: Nov. 4
• Matchup: OKC Thunder (7-0) vs. L.A. Clippers (3-2)
• Time: 10:00 PM CT
• Location: Intuit Dome –– Inglewood, CA
• TV: Peacock streaming service and NBC
• Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM)

Up next, the Oklahoma City Thunder jet up to on their divisional foes, the Portland Trail Blazers, on the second night of a back-to-back on Wednesday.

Stay tuned to Thunder on SI for complete coverage of this game and the entire season for the Oklahoma City Thunder.