Thunder rookie Theo Maledon may have impressed a number of people with his 20-point, five-rebound, two-assist effort in Saturday night’s 121-108 win over the San Antonio Spurs, but one person that was not impressed was Theo Maledon himself.
Despite scoring a team-high and pushing the Thunder to a 15-6 run that helped the team secure the victory, afterward, when asked whether he was impressed with what he did on the floor, the rookie had a surprisingly nonchalant response.
“Not really,” he said to reporters after the contest when asked whether he was surprised with how well he performed.
“I feel like I was confident, my teammates really told me to be confident, coach told me to be aggressive, so really I had a lot of confidence coming in.”
But while it is important to keep things in perspective, preseason games are usually about providing hope and giving young players an opportunity to at least show that they look like they belong on an NBA court.
Without question, Maledon passed that test, even if it was against the Spurs’ “B” team.
“I know my strengths and what I can bring to the team and I feel like that’s what I did today, tonight. For sure, I want to get better and better and that was a good start.”
#Thunder rookie Theo Maledon wow-ed in his first NBA action dropping 20 points on 50% shooting. When asked if he thought he played well he said, "not really." pic.twitter.com/PnGRVZFWhs
— Dylan Buckingham (@DylanBuckingham) December 13, 2020
Newly-installed Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault also provided his opinion, giving his rookie point guard high marks, though he himself wasn’t taking any credit for the standout performance.
“He did look comfortable,” the coach told reporters, according to DailyThunder’s Brandon Rahbar.
“We can’t take any credit for it. That’s his starting point. Like all young players, there will be good games and bad games. We won’t overreact to a good game. It’s just one game.”
Mark Daigneault on Theo Maledon: “He did look comfortable. We can’t take any credit for it. That’s his starting point. Like all young players, there will be good games and bad games. We won’t overreact to a good game. It’s just one game.”
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) December 13, 2020
While it may have only been one game, it’s fair to say — at least from the standpoint of Maledon — that it couldn’t have gone any better.
He’ll have an opportunity to do it again on Wednesday night when the Thunder play host to the Chicago Bulls in its second preseason contest.