The Oklahoma City Thunder announced on Friday that they recalled rookie forward Aleksej Pokusevski from the G League.
Pokusevski was on the OKC Blue in the G League bubble, where he played in 13 games and averaged 25.2 minutes per contest. He averaged 7.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.1 blocks per game.
The Thunder sent him down because they wanted to get him more minutes with the ball in his hands on the court. This gave the franchise a chance to work on his development away from the NBA games, where he had largely struggled, shooting 24.7% from the field and 17.9% from 3.
He was a bit better in the G League, shooting 31.2% from the field and 27% from 3. His scoring and rebounding numbers improved, and he recorded two double-doubles.
Pokusevski will look to bring that growth to the NBA, and the Thunder will look to find consistent playing time for him. Isaiah Roby has played very well in his stead, and minutes from players like Kenrich Williams and Justin Jackson have also been good.
The Blue have an 8-6 record heading into the final regular season game of the G League bubble. They will close it out against the Santa Cruz Warriors on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
This post originally appeared on OKCThunderWire. Follow us on Facebook!