After missing the past six games with a right soleus (calf) strain, starting center Isaiah Hartenstein is not on the Thunder‘s injury report ahead of Saturday’s NBA Cup semifinal against the Spurs, which indicates he’ll be available to play, tweets Rylan Stiles of SI.com.
Oklahoma City got some other reinforcements back ahead of Wednesday’s quarterfinal win over Phoenix, with Luguentz Dort (right adductor strain) and Alex Caruso (right quad contusion) returning from injuries that cost the defensive stalwarts three and four games, respectively.
Guard Cason Wallace, who leads the NBA in steals per game (2.3), will be active on Saturday as well after leaving Wednesday’s game early — he was hit by a hard screen from Suns center Mark Williams, per Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman (subscriber link).
The defending champions have been on an absolute tear this season, holding an active 16-game winning streak — a franchise record — heading into Saturday. The Thunder are currently 24-1, tied with the 2015/16 Warriors for the best 25-game start in NBA history.
Head coach Mark Daigneault was asked after Wednesday’s blowout victory how the Thunder have avoided complacency after winning the title in ’24/25 (Twitter video link from Martinez).
“You have to understand anything in the past takes you out of the present moment,” Daigneault said in part. “Anything in the future takes you out of the present moment. And the competition happens in the present moment.”