The top team in the Western Conference meets the bottom team Monday when the Oklahoma City Thunder host the New Orleans Pelicans.
The teams come into the game with something in common, though, both working through restrictions with significant pieces of their roster.
For the Thunder, who come into the game with the NBA’s best record and on a five-game winning streak, they’re navigating the return of Chet Holmgren.
The 7-footer returned Friday for the first time since suffering a pelvic fracture on Nov. 10.
In Oklahoma City’s 121-109 win over Toronto, Holmgren had four points, five rebounds, four blocks and a pair of steals in 22 minutes. Holmgren sat out the Thunder’s win at Memphis on Saturday.
Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said it would be a process ramping up Holmgren, who was averaging nearly 29 minutes per game before his injury.
“We have plans,” Daigneault said. “They’re not rigid. Some of this is watching how he responds and how he feels. That’s our eyes. That’s our performance staff. We don’t go into things unplanned.”
Holmgren is expected to play Monday.
“It’s going to be a tandem,” Holmgren said of the discussions between himself and the team on working back. “They’re going to listen to me, I’m going to listen to them and we’re going to make the best decisions going forward.”
The Pelicans, who come into Monday’s game on an eight-game losing streak, are still managing Zion Williamson’s workload after he returned from an extended absence due to a hamstring injury.
Williamson has yet to play 30 minutes in a game since his return.
New Orleans coach Willie Green said Williamson could be on a minutes restriction for the rest of the season.
“It’s not off the table,” Green said after the Pelicans’ 123-118 loss in Sacramento on Saturday. “It’s definitely something we’re considering.”
Williamson had a monster game against the Kings, with 40 points on 16-of-21 shooting, four rebounds, four assists and two steals in less than 28 minutes.
No other player in NBA history has scored 40-plus points while shooting better than 76 percent from the field with at least four assists and two steals in 28 minutes or less.
“He’s a monster,” Green said. “His ability to get to the basket, to make plays for himself and his teammates (is elite).”
Neither Williamson nor Holmgren have played in either of the two meetings between the Pelicans and Thunder so far this season.
Oklahoma City’s pair of All-Stars, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams, have, though.
Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 30 points in those games, while Williams averaged 29 in the pair of Thunder victories.
Oklahoma City has won eight consecutive games against New Orleans, including the sweep of their first-round playoff series in 2024.
The Thunder’s Luguentz Dort has missed the last two games with back spasms while Cason Wallace also remains out with a shoulder injury.
New Orleans’ trade-deadline additions, Bruce Brown and Kelly Olynyk, are expected to join the team when the Pelicans return from their four-game road trip that wraps up Monday.
–Field Level Media
