October 24, 2026 at 2:41 AM UTC

Pregame Analysis

Thunder Look to Stay Unbeaten at Home Against the Clippers

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Oklahoma City's 2-0 start and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's steadiness should be enough to hold off the Clippers in Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City hosts the Clippers on Sunday at 6 p.m. CT with a 2-0 record and a pair of wins that showed different sides of the team. The opener was a 116-104 victory over the Spurs, the team that beat OKC in last season's Western Conference Finals, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led it with 32 points. Thursday brought a grittier 96-84 win over Denver, a contender, in which the Thunder won without their best scorer being at his sharpest.

That second game is the more useful one for this matchup. Gilgeous-Alexander managed 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting, which ended his NBA-record streak of 20-point games at 141. The Thunder still won by 12. A team that can absorb an inefficient night from the reigning two-time MVP and still control the game is hard to beat at home. If he returns to his usual scoring level against the Clippers, the margin could grow.

Depth is the one area worth watching. Thomas Sorber and Nikola Topic missed the first two games, and Sorber is week-to-week after knee surgery. Otega Oweh is done for the season with a torn right Achilles, suffered in the Oct. 13 preseason game against Indiana. OKC just agreed to a two-way deal with 6-foot-7 wing Micah Peavy, who shot poorly last season. That signing is about the end of the roster, though, and it should not change Sunday's rotation. The thin bench means the Thunder will lean on their established core, and the Clippers' best chance is to turn this into a possession-by-possession game and test that depth late.

I expect Oklahoma City's home form and the way it has handled two high-level opponents to decide it. The Clippers should stay within reach into the fourth quarter, but the Thunder get enough from Gilgeous-Alexander to close it out.

Prediction: Thunder 112, Clippers 105.

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