Thunder Go Supersized: OKC Rolls Out Massive Starting Five Against Spurs

The Oklahoma City Thunder are officially done playing small.

According to Underdog NBA, the Thunder are rolling out a starting five of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Cason Wallace, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, and Isaiah Hartenstein for Tuesday’s matchup against the San Antonio Spurs.

"Underdog NBA: 'Lineup alert: Thunder will start Gilgeous-Alexander, Wallace, Jalen Williams, Holmgren, Hartenstein on Tuesday.'"

Starting Holmgren and Hartenstein together is the basketball equivalent of putting two bouncers at the door of a VIP room that nobody is trying to enter. It is a massive, suffocating frontcourt designed to make opposing offenses reconsider their life choices.

This is a fascinating pivot for a team that just got blown off the floor by the Houston Rockets 116-89 a few days ago. Head coach Mark Daigneault is clearly tired of getting bullied on the glass, so he is throwing all of his size on the floor at once.

For the fantasy managers and prop bettors trying to read the tea leaves, this shifts the entire geometry of the floor. Hartenstein is going to eat up the traditional center minutes and rebounds, which likely pushes Holmgren out to the perimeter to hunt blocks and open threes.

Then you have the backcourt. Gilgeous-Alexander is fully healthy and ready to terrorize San Antonio again. The last time he saw the Spurs, he dropped 35 points, nine assists, and three steals in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals back in May.

Sliding Cason Wallace into the starting group next to him is just cruel. Wallace is already averaging 1.9 steals a night, meaning opposing guards are going to be fighting for their lives just to get the ball across halfcourt.

We will see if this supersized experiment actually works against San Antonio. If it does, the rest of the Western Conference is going to have a massive problem on their hands when the Denver Nuggets come to town later this week.