The Oklahoma City Thunder’s quest for a perfect summer league record sadly came to an end on Wednesday.
After an impressive win against the Utah Jazz, the Thunder fell to the Memphis Grizzlies, 94-86, in their second summer league game in Salt Lake City.
The Grizzlies won this game from outside, as they shot 17-of-38 from 3 (44.7%) — the 17 made 3s are an SLC summer league record. The Grizzlies were in cruise control for most of the game, as they opened up a 39-31 lead following the first quarter. The Grizzlies led by as many as 16 points and were never seriously threatened by OKC for the entirety of the game.
“They started off pretty good and I thought like we were a little bit sluggish,” Thunder summer league coach David Akinyooye said.
The Grizzlies enjoyed a team-friendly performance that saw six of the 10 players that checked in score at least 10 points. Jake LaRavia led the way with 25 points on 9-of-18 shooting and also went 4-of-9 from 3. Vince Williams Jr. also contributed with 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting and nine rebounds. Kenneth Lofton Jr. had 12 points and four rebounds.
Ball security was a big problem for the Thunder this game, as they were without Jalen Williams due to a left glut contusion. The Thunder committed 18 turnovers, which was dead even with their 18 assists. Chet Holmgren and Tre Mann combined for 11 turnovers. Grizzlies’ Jacob Gylard collected a savvy seven steals.
The turnover disparity led to the Grizzlies outshooting the Thunder by 13 attempts. But considering OKC shot a poor 10-of-34 (29.4%) from 3, who knows how big of a difference extra shots would’ve made for a team that struggled to get their offense going sans Mann.
As mentioned before, the results of summer league games are irrelevant. What matters is how highly-touted players perform against inferior competition. Despite the loss, Mann and Holmgren were excellent for OKC. Both are positive signs that make it easy to forget about the result.
Holmgren continues to show his defensive impact will be immediate, as his rim protection helped him collect three blocks. Considering how the Thunder played all of last season without a traditional big, Holmgren’s summer league has provided a nice preview as to what fans can expect from him with his elite defensive talents.
The Thunder will get a chance to quickly move on from this mundane loss as they play their final Utah summer league game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday. After that, they’ll be on their way to Las Vegas to play their remaining five-plus games.
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.