The Thunder will open play in Orlando on Aug. 1, but the club won’t have to wait until then to get a live look at another NBA team.
Chris Paul and company will play three exhibition games prior to playing the first game that counts against the Utah Jazz.
On Saturday, the NBA announced a slate of exhibition games that will take place in Orlando prior to the seeding games, which are scheduled to begin on July 30.
The Thunder will have three such contests, as stated below:
- July 24 vs. the Boston Celtics, 4:00 p.m.
- July 26 vs. the Philadelphia 76ers, 11:00 a.m.
- July 28 vs. the Portland Trail Blazers, 5:00 p.m.
Afterward, the Thunder will begin their schedule of eight seeding games — essentially regular-season games.
Depending on how the team fares in those eight contests, they could enter the playoffs as high as the second seed or outside of the top eight completely. Of course, seeding isn’t as important as the actual brackets, since there’s no such thing as homecourt advantage in Orlando.
Still, as Danilo Gallinari put it, the Thunder are playing for something, including what could potentially be an additional first-round pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
The team will be heading to Orlando on July 8, and fortunately for those itching to get back in front of some other competitors, they won’t have to wait until Aug. 1 to get that opportunity.
