3 takeaways from the Oklahoma City Thunder’s exit interviews
The Oklahoma City Thunder held exit interviews for players and coach Mark Daigneault on Monday.
Here are three takeaways from those sessions:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander feels good about the future of the franchise
While the Thunder spent much of this season repositioning itself for the future, it still had one major goal: Ensuring Shai Gilgeous-Alexander remained confident about the team’s future.
Despite OKC’s losing stretch over the last 25 games of the season, it seems that goal was accomplished. Shai said multiple times on Monday afternoon that he felt like he and his teammates got better this year and that he’s excited for the future.
SGA made significant strides this season, averaging 23.7 points per game on an elite 60.7 percent true shooting percentage. He also shot 41.8 percent from 3-point range, clearing the 40 percent threshold for the first time in his career.
Al Horford said all the right things
Al Horford played just 28 contests this season, and mutually agreed to sit out games after SGA went down with his injury.
However, Horford might still be on the Thunder for the foreseeable future. He’s under contract for two more seasons, with the final year being partially-guaranteed. Horford addressed the possibility that he may be traded this summer, but he also was very complimentary of the franchise.
Coach Daigneault also gave praise to Horford for his presence all season long.
Horford averaged 14.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists per contest this season.
Poku’s offseason plans
Aleksej Pokusevski’s rookie campaign ended on a high note, scoring 29 points in the Thunder’s season finale win over the Clippers.
On Monday, he said he plans to spend most of his offseason training in Oklahoma City. He’s planning to take a couple weeks off and then return to OKC:
Poku also said he’s more comfortable living in Oklahoma City now than he was at the beginning of the season.
As for the rest of his summer, Pokusevski is eligible to play for the Serbian National Team at the Olympics later this year. However, it’s currently unclear whether or not he will do so.
