Thunder Roll Out Chaotic Three-Guard Lineup Against Mavericks

The Oklahoma City Thunder are rolling into Wednesday night with a starting lineup that looks like it was drawn out of a hat by a very confident analytics department.

According to Underdog NBA, head coach Mark Daigneault is handing the keys to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jared McCain, Davion Mitchell, Kenrich Williams, and Isaiah Hartenstein against the Dallas Mavericks.

"Underdog NBA reported the starting lineup change."

When you are sitting at a flawless 3-0 after suffocating the Denver Nuggets, LA Clippers, and Phoenix Suns, you earn the right to get weird. Holding Denver to 84 points on opening night is the kind of defensive flex that lets a coach experiment with a three-guard fever dream in week two.

Throwing Mitchell and McCain out there next to SGA is certainly a choice. It gives Oklahoma City a point-of-attack bulldog and a rookie shooter to space the floor, while Williams and Hartenstein are left to do the dirty work in the paint. It is the basketball equivalent of putting all your fastest players on the field in Madden and just daring the opponent to keep up.

For anyone staring down the prop markets for this Dallas matchup, this rotation shuffle changes the math. Increased run for McCain and Mitchell means the usage pie is getting sliced differently, and you have to wonder who is getting left hungry on the second unit.

We will see how this chaotic five-man unit holds up against the Mavericks. If it works, Daigneault continues his reign as a mad genius. If it gets cooked, they are still undefeated with enough draft capital to buy a small island nation.