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Friday, January 26, 2024
Oklahoma City Thunder @ New Orleans Pelicans
Smoothie King Center, New Orleans - 7:00 PM
TV - KSBI-52
WWLS-The Sports Animal Oklahoma City (98.1 FM), Tulsa (97.1 FM)

Another nice Thunder piece on The Athletic today by A. Slater.

https://theathletic.com/5213190/2024/01/25/thunder-defense-nba-ranking/?source=freedailyemail&campaign=601983

It's hard to form an informed opinion unless we had attendance figures for all the games. There are a lot of variables that affect attendance: post pandemic behaviors, tv deals, people just haven't jumped on the bandwagon, people jumping on the OU bandwagon in since they are going to SEC next year, etc. I'm sure people in Thunder marketing wish they could just point and yell at the fans to make them come back. It would be so much easier.

Well they were 30th last year dead last in the league in attendance. This year so far they are 23rd. It's wasn't just me either on Mondays show on the sports animal even the great Al Eschbach said it was pathetic we were 23rd in the league. I understand what everyone is saying and there have been some games where it's been almost full. We were playing a crappy team. My point is right now we are first in the west, we have an MVP candidate, rookie of the year candidate, and TICKETS ARE CHEAP. So why aren't more people going? 23rd out of 30 teams is not great.

Well they were 30th last year dead last in the league in attendance. This year so far they are 23rd. It's wasn't just me either on Mondays show on the sports animal even the great Al Eschbach said it was pathetic we were 23rd in the league. I understand what everyone is saying and there have been some games where it's been almost full. We were playing a crappy team. My point is right now we are first in the west, we have an MVP candidate, rookie of the year candidate, and TICKETS ARE CHEAP. So why aren't more people going? 23rd out of 30 teams is not great.

Again, attendance isn't going to jump in less than a year. That just isn't practicable . It has come up this year, I expect next year to be sellouts most games like it was when we had KD and RW.

For me personally, I've always preferred college basketball so if I have a choice, I go to OU games.
Realistically, another issue is the games not being televised without a subscription. I know that sounds backwards but when the games were "free" on FSOK, I was a lot more into the Thunder because I could watch everynight. I was a bigger fan and hence would be more likely to go to games. With me only watching the national games, I admittingly am not as big of a fan

Attendance should be looked at in terms of the capacity of the arena, not just gross attendance numbers that don’t factor in the arena size. Thunder is 23rd due to the smallish size of Paycom - average size of NBA arenas bumps close to 19k. Thunder is filling about 95% of the seats to home games on average paid attendance numbers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN-Bb-14D9g

Attendance should be looked at in terms of the capacity of the arena, not just gross attendance numbers that don’t factor in the arena size. Thunder is 23rd due to the smallish size of Paycom - average size of NBA arenas bumps close to 19k. Thunder is filling about 95% of the seats to home games on average paid attendance numbers.

Because of the size of the arena we are usually anywhere from 15th to 11th. Between 2010-2020 we never finished below 15th and no higher than 11th. First year we were 28th. Than covid 2021 no fans than 28th 2022, 30th in 2023 and currently 23rd. I'm sure they have lost a lot of season ticket holders over the last couple years but that makes more tickets available to the public Tickets are very easy to get and we are currently best in the West seems we could do better than 23rd. Not trying to rip anyone but compared to the "good years" it's much lower.

Because of the size of the arena we are usually anywhere from 15th to 11th. Between 2010-2020 we never finished below 15th and no higher than 11th. First year we were 28th. Than covid 2021 no fans than 28th 2022, 30th in 2023 and currently 23rd. I'm sure they have lost a lot of season ticket holders over the last couple years but that makes more tickets available to the public Tickets are very easy to get and we are currently best in the West seems we could do better than 23rd. Not trying to rip anyone but compared to the "good years" it's much lower.

OKC should be better than 23rd, definitely agree. Covid-19 IMO killed the attendance momentum the Thunder had at one stretch.

You factor the year we didn't allow any fans in the arena--that was the killer dagger that broke the attendance string.

Oklahoma City's NBA future is bright; as well as the future of our city's development projects such as the arena, Boardwalk at Bricktown. Developers are taking notice of our city. With the new $1 billion arena on the horizon; look for another construction boom to finish out 2025-30.

I won't worry about attendance unless it is still down next year

Attendance should be looked at in terms of the capacity of the arena, not just gross attendance numbers that don’t factor in the arena size. Thunder is 23rd due to the smallish size of Paycom - average size of NBA arenas bumps close to 19k. Thunder is filling about 95% of the seats to home games on average paid attendance numbers.

Exactly. It’s really dumb to track it and freak out based on actual attendance when we wouldn’t even be top 20 if averaging a sellout. For some reason, ESPN no longer tracks percentage attendance but I would imagine that we’re in the middle of the pack and that’s including the first few months of the season before people started realizing how good this team is. It will go up next year after an offseason of season ticket sales following a successful season. We will get a bump from the additional people who feel obligated to go every night from the increased season ticket sales alone. It’s just different when you can pick and choose which game you want to attend and haven’t already paid ahead of time.

In the previous generation of the Thunder it took 3 seasons to build up to finally averaging 100% capacity (2011-2012) which followed one bad season and two playoff runs. The team was brand new and one of the most successful teams in the league with 2-3 budding superstars and we still weren’t averaging a sellout for 3 seasons and there wasn’t a massive let down followed by a pandemic that preceded those seasons. Then we averaged 100% for 8 additional seasons through 2019-2020. It takes time to build up to that especially after what essentially was a reset in season ticket sales due to the pandemic coinciding with Presti moving into the role of tank commander. It’s frankly stupid that we’re even having this conversation right now. If we’re not in the 98-99% range over next two seasons then it will be worth discussion but this a waste of time right now…just enjoy the damn team, it’s insane what they’re doing right now. The only other teams in NBA history that were this good, with guys this young playing most of the minutes were the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 Thunder teams.

First game tonight OTA!

"Beginning tonight, Friday, Jan. 26, all Friday regular-season games will be on KSBI-Ch. 52 in OKC and News on 6 Now Ch. 6.3 in Tulsa. COX and other local cable outlets will also carry the games on those stations’ channels and in OKC they can be watched on DirecTV Satellite and DISH."

i think the corporate ticket situation (CHK used to have an absolute ton of tickets) is actually very material in this market. it's just one of the reasons why the team wants to get rid of individual seats in favor of suites and premium areas. So much easier to sell a box to a company for a season (and deal with one point of contact) vs. selling 25 individual seats and managing every one of those relationships.

No Zion for the Pels tonight

Oklahoma City Thunder 107 @ New Orleans Pelicans 83



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rDIN74fA9w

Box score https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401585268



Attendance: 18,624

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Sunday, January 28, 2024
Oklahoma City Thunder @ Detroit Pistons
Little Ceasars Arena, Detroit - 1:00 PM
TV - Bally Sports Oklahoma
WWLS-The Sports Animal Oklahoma City (98.1 FM), Tulsa (97.1 FM)

Impressive (107-83) win against the Pelicans in the Big Easy last night. The Thunder continues to mature--equally impressed with coaching and the way Mark Daigneault mixes and matches player combination to counter opponents.

They have been playing really well with a great group dynamic.

Shai is a special player. If you haven't seen him play in person, please make a point to see him.

Bally's is the worst.

What the hell is going on? Why is the Thunder down at half against the worst team in the NBA?

What the hell is going on? Why is the Thunder down at half against the worst team in the NBA?

You answered your own question. The worst team in the NBA still has a roster full of NBA players just like the Thunder does. Sleepwalk into a game vs any of them and you can lose, especially on the road. Just ask the timberwolves about last night in San Antonio. Fortunately haven’t had to many bad losses like this one so far this season.

This is what I was talking about before. No reason they should of lost this game. The Pistons are 6-40! These are the games they need to win. And again when it comes to playoff seeding at the end of the season, they are going to wish they had this one back. Makes no sense in losing this game.

This is what I was talking about before. No reason they should of lost this game. The Pistons are 6-40! These are the games they need to win. And again when it comes to playoff seeding at the end of the season, they are going to wish they had this one back. Makes no sense in losing this game.

It’s the nba and this team is one year removed from a season in which many thought they were going to continue tanking. We’ve had the NBA for 16 years now, stop acting like you’ve never followed an NBA team before just because all of the sudden we’re good again. This happens all the time, to nearly every good team and of course they want them back at the end of the season…duh.. Just look at Denver and Minnesota over the last few weeks. It sucks but they’re the youngest team in the NBA (for guys who actually play minutes) and they’re going to lose a few like this to teams that they shouldn’t. Despite a few of them…they’re still tied for 1st in the west after missing the playoffs last year.

Oklahoma City Thunder 104 @ Detroit Pistons 120

https://www.detroitnews.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2024/01/28/PDTN/72389662007-ap-24028724746624.jpg?width=700&height=467&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp

Box score https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401585282



Attendance: 16,861

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Monday, January 29, 2024
Minnesota Timberwolves @ Oklahoma City Thunder
Paycom Center, OKC - 7:00 PM
TV - Bally Sports Oklahoma
WWLS-The Sports Animal Oklahoma City (98.1 FM), Tulsa (97.1 FM)

Do losses happen in the NBA to bad teams yep they sure do. Does getting BLOWN OUT by a team that is 5-40 and 0-25 vs teams above 500 happen in the NBA. NO It's concerning we got BLOWN OUT I'm ok with losing to bad teams once in a while but we didn't just lose we got beaten down. We gave up 70 points in the first half. ALARMING to say the least. Can they bounce back and win vs Minnesota yeah but still we couldn't stop Duren at all.

Do losses happen in the NBA to bad teams yep they sure do. Does getting BLOWN OUT by a team that is 5-40 and 0-25 vs teams above 500 happen in the NBA. NO It's concerning we got BLOWN OUT I'm ok with losing to bad teams once in a while but we didn't just lose we got beaten down. We gave up 70 points in the first half. ALARMING to say the least.

LOL, ok. Be concerned. You’ve made a bunch of questionable posts here spanning multiple sports so a dumb overreaction to one game isn’t surprising.

Yes…young teams do get blown out by teams they shouldn’t. Watch some basketball outside of the Thunder. It would be concerning if it became a pattern.

LOL, ok. Be concerned. You’ve made a bunch of questionable posts here spanning multiple sports so a dumb overreaction to one game isn’t surprising.

Yes…young teams do get blown out by teams they shouldn’t. Watch some basketball outside of the Thunder. It would be concerning if it became a pattern.

Yep just like OU not making the playoff in football with a loss and guess they would of never made it. FSU couldn't even get in undefeated and you thought OU would get in with a loss in the Big 12. LOL Chalk that as a win. :)

I'm not overacting just concerned with teams figuring us out. Clippers, Lakers over power us. WE should of lost to the trailblazers who are trash. WE are 27th in the league in rebounding so if that isn't a bit concerning than more power too you. I'm sure the Thunder front office is concerned.

Yep just like OU not making the playoff in football with a loss and guess they would of never made it. FSU couldn't even get in undefeated and you thought OU would get in with a loss in the Big 12. LOL Chalk that as a win. :)

I'm not overacting just concerned with teams figuring us out. Clippers, Lakers over power us. WE should of lost to the trailblazers who are trash. WE are 27th in the league in rebounding so if that isn't a bit concerning than more power too you. I'm sure the Thunder front office is concerned.

Texas got in with a loss and proved my point. OU would have as well if they’d won out, beaten Texas twice and only lost to Kansas or OSU.

need to upgrade rebounding but no…it’s not that concerning, especially given where the team is in its development and the trade assets we have in place. Might use some to upgrade the roster this year…might wait. Either way, it’s not that big of deal. Concerning would be it not being fixed 2-3 years from now when SGA’s contract is expiring…not now when we’re playing with house money

Texas got in with a loss and proved my point. OU would have as well if they’d won out, beaten Texas twice and only lost to Kansas or OSU.

need to upgrade rebounding but no…it’s not that concerning, especially given where the team is in its development and the trade assets we have in place. Might use some to upgrade the roster this year…might wait. Either way, it’s not that big of deal. Concerning would be it not being fixed 2-3 years from now when SGA’s contract is expiring…not now when we’re playing with house money

Texas go in because the beat Alabama. Does Texas get in without beating Bama? We will never know but I say NO and I hear you but did we ever fix our shooting problem when we had KD and Russ. How many years did I hear OKC needs a shooter and we really never got one. Let's fix the rebounding problem this off season.

Texas go in because the beat Alabama. Does Texas get in without beating Bama? We will never know but I say NO and I hear you but did we ever fix our shooting problem when we had KD and Russ. How many years did I hear OKC needs a shooter and we really never got one. Let's fix the rebounding problem this off season.

I hope they do something at the trade deadline but they’ve been good enough this year that I wouldn’t be surprised to see them just roll with what they have in the playoffs to see where they’re really deficient in a playoff scenario before making a move. Either way I think they move some things around by the start of next season. Fortunately rebounding is easier to find than elite shooting some of which will improve as Chet develops.

Do losses happen in the NBA to bad teams yep they sure do. Does getting BLOWN OUT by a team that is 5-40 and 0-25 vs teams above 500 happen in the NBA. NO It's concerning we got BLOWN OUT I'm ok with losing to bad teams once in a while but we didn't just lose we got beaten down. We gave up 70 points in the first half. ALARMING to say the least. Can they bounce back and win vs Minnesota yeah but still we couldn't stop Duren at all.

lol chill. nothing alarming about this. it happens
THe THunder have played really well against top competition

Quit reaching, no way to sugar coat the Thunder losing to the Pistons. The only other 5 teams the Pistons beat this year were the Raptors, Wizards, Hornets(2x), and Chicago. Which the Raptors, Hornets, Wizards, are the other 3 worst teams in the East just ahead of the Pistons, in that order. So don't tell me this is just another lost. They should of beat this team, no way they should of lost that game.

Quit reaching, no way to sugar coat the Thunder losing to the Pistons. The only other 5 teams the Pistons beat this year were the Raptors, Wizards, Hornets(2x), and Chicago. Which the Raptors, Hornets, Wizards, are the other 3 worst teams in the East just ahead of the Pistons, in that order. So don't tell me this is just another lost. They should of beat this team, no way they should of lost that game.

Again. You sound like you’ve never followed an NBA team before. It’s a bad loss, they happen to everyone, especially teams this young. Find one post where anyone said they should’ve lost this game.

This team likely isn’t winning an NBA title this year and never was…they are a good team but there will probably be more losses like this before the end of the season. Buckle up.

Quit reaching, no way to sugar coat the Thunder losing to the Pistons. The only other 5 teams the Pistons beat this year were the Raptors, Wizards, Hornets(2x), and Chicago. Which the Raptors, Hornets, Wizards, are the other 3 worst teams in the East just ahead of the Pistons, in that order. So don't tell me this is just another lost. They should of beat this team, no way they should of lost that game.

dude, we are like 15 years into having an NBA team...there is literally zero reason to worry about losing to the pistons lol

Spurs beat the Timberwolves on Saturday. Guess the Minneapolis message boards are getting lit up, also.

Regular season NBA games. I'm not too worried. Joel Embiid can only miss 6 more games to qualify for MVP. That really puts Luka and SGA up there at the top of the race if he can't make it 65 games.

That really puts Luka and SGA up there at the top of the race if he can't make it 65 games.
That will be an interesting battle

It'd be nice to clinch an easy win, but c'est la vie.

The only thing I'm concerned about is that, similar to this game, we've been doing so well overall, well above expectations going into the season, that if we don't miraculously win it all this year people will frame it as a disappointment.

Quit reaching, no way to sugar coat the Thunder losing to the Pistons. The only other 5 teams the Pistons beat this year were the Raptors, Wizards, Hornets(2x), and Chicago. Which the Raptors, Hornets, Wizards, are the other 3 worst teams in the East just ahead of the Pistons, in that order. So don't tell me this is just another lost. They should of beat this team, no way they should of lost that game.

Losing the game is not the problem. Losses happen in the NBA. The issue is the way they lost. They gave up 70 points in the first half. 46 in the 2nd qtr. Outscored by 16 in the 2nd. Outscored 21 when you combine the 2nd and 3rd Qtrs gave up 76 points in those two Qtrs. That's the issues I have. It wasn't even competitive to the worse team in the league. It was a horrible loss I think we should all be able to agree on that.

I don’t think any one here has said it wasn’t a terrible loss…just that one game isn’t a big deal…no matter who the other team was…and acting like the sky is falling because of one game is a massive overreaction given how the rest of the season has gone so far.

Losing the game is not the problem. Losses happen in the NBA. The issue is the way they lost. They gave up 70 points in the first half. 46 in the 2nd qtr. Outscored by 16 in the 2nd. Outscored 21 when you combine the 2nd and 3rd Qtrs gave up 76 points in those two Qtrs. That's the issues I have. It wasn't even competitive to the worse team in the league. It was a horrible loss I think we should all be able to agree on that.

almost like they were looking ahead to tonight .... lol not an issue ..

Losing the game is not the problem. Losses happen in the NBA. The issue is the way they lost. They gave up 70 points in the first half. 46 in the 2nd qtr. Outscored by 16 in the 2nd. Outscored 21 when you combine the 2nd and 3rd Qtrs gave up 76 points in those two Qtrs. That's the issues I have. It wasn't even competitive to the worse team in the league. It was a horrible loss I think we should all be able to agree on that.

No offense, but that just offers more evidence that it was a fluke game

Losing the game is not the problem. Losses happen in the NBA. The issue is the way they lost. They gave up 70 points in the first half. 46 in the 2nd qtr. Outscored by 16 in the 2nd. Outscored 21 when you combine the 2nd and 3rd Qtrs gave up 76 points in those two Qtrs. That's the issues I have. It wasn't even competitive to the worse team in the league. It was a horrible loss I think we should all be able to agree on that.

Of course it is a bad loss. Just like Minnesota's with San Antonio. All NBA teams have bad losses during the 82-game long year. Almost impossible to not have. If OKC has 10 more before the end of the year, then you can be justified in your angst.

Luckily this isn't football and they play a whole lot more than 17 games a year. Its hard to keep going that long when your a young team. And their human so they have their personal issues and illnesses that happen throughout the year.

Decent crowd for Minnesota but far from a sale out. I guess OU men must be playing tonight?

What a battle that first half was! Wow. An absolute street fight. Some defense being played.

Decent crowd for Minnesota but far from a sale out. I guess OU men must be playing tonight?

Are you there?

Decent crowd for Minnesota but far from a sale out. I guess OU men must be playing tonight?

looks almost full on TV

Minnesota Timberwolves 107 @ Oklahoma City Thunder 101

https://www.docsports.com/images/lib/large/nba-picks-isaiah-joe-oklahoma-city-thunder-predictions-best-bet-odds.jpg

Box score https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401585292



Attendance: 16,870

https://statmilk.bleacherreport.com/api/image/mashup/logo?team1=denver-nuggets&team2=oklahoma-city-thunder

Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Denver Nuggets @ Oklahoma City Thunder
Paycom Center, OKC - 7:00 PM
TV - Bally Sports Oklahoma
WWLS-The Sports Animal Oklahoma City (98.1 FM), Tulsa (97.1 FM)

Bummer of a loss tonight against a good team. It was very back and forth for most of it. I don’t know how many lead changes there were.

https://twitter.com/BDawsonWrites/status/1752157494732869691?t=t6K3B0p-htIlcavyGY8i6Q&s=19.

https://twitter.com/BDawsonWrites/status/1752157494732869691?t=t6K3B0p-htIlcavyGY8i6Q&s=19.

were you there?

were you there?

I was. It was an okay crowd. Some swaths of empty seats here and there. Definitely not packed but not super empty either. For a game featuring the two best teams in the conference it was less than I was anticipating though.


I guess until this iteration of the Thunder goes on a deep playoff run attendance will be similar. Maybe casual Thunder fans just assume the Timberwolves are still bad like in the Kevin Love days? Idk

Chet and Dort have disappeared on offense. Shai is getting some juicy whistles and it still isn't enough.

I hope the ASB will give these guys a much-needed rest.

We need a backup center as well. Chet is getting a ton of minutes and looks exhausted.

I'll give Chet credit for banging underneath and battling for rebounds. But it appears to be wearing on him physically. Next game a bad matchup too, Jokic is a beast down low. We're 27th in the league in rebounding. So on those nights where our shots aren't falling, it becomes nearly impossible for us to keep pace. If we could find another piece that could grab 5-6 boards a night, it would be a massive help.

Decent crowd for Minnesota but far from a sale out. I guess OU men must be playing tonight?

Who wants to go to a Thunder game on a Monday night? lol That is a usual weekday crowd. More butts are in seats for weekend games.

With them losing last night to Minnesota, and they got Denver tomorrow, they needed to win the games against bad teams. Like I said before, they wish they had the game against the Pistons back. They dropped from 1st to 3rd in the West that quick.