OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game vs Charlotte Hornets | Preseason | October 9, 2025

OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game vs Charlotte Hornets | Preseason | October 9, 2025

Mali, just what’s this experience been like for you being back with this group this season after spending some time with them last year? Uh, it’s very cool, especially since I was here last year. like uh having like the experience already is cool to do it like a second time around cuz now I can like I feel like enjoy it more like feel like I know what’s going to happen so I’m just enjoying it. Is it helpful at all knowing that you know the terminology, you know the system. Is that kind of helping you in this training camp so far? Yeah, like last year I was like with a chicken without a head just like looking around and now now I kind of know what I’m doing. What was like also getting that experience to to close this one out with some other training camp additions? Just how do you feel you guys handled that that situation? Yeah, it’s fun. It’s a fun group. Uh the five of us and uh yeah, just going out there and competing and winning the games was a cool experience. Seemed to have no hesitation, you know, letting that three go and attacking the rim the way you did. Uh what do you make of just the the confidence that these guys are kind of pumping into you as you’re playing? Uh just by watching them and like listening to them like uh it’s like important to have confidence and like uh be decisive with your decisions and I’m trying to like imply that in my game as well. Is there anyone that’s been helping you out throughout this this process of, you know, training camp and getting integrated with this team or has it kind of been a group effort? It’s definitely a group effort. Like all the coaches been helping me out, all the players been helping me out. I’ve been working with Ryan Greer for like a year now, the assistant coach with the blue and yeah, it’s been a great experience. When it comes to those guys who close out the game, you also got a lot of experience with them in summer league as well. Do you feel like that extra time has also helped you guys have some chemistry within that specific group? No. Yeah, definitely. Almost feels like we’ve been playing together for like a year by now. like summer kids such a long time ago and yeah it’s we have a good chemistry I think. Anything else? Thanks Mali. Thanks. Thanks. Say you’ve had a chance to play a lot here already in the in the preseason. What was it like incorporating some of the guys that weren’t on the the road trip and how’d you feel that first half went? Uh yeah, we played um played our brand of basketball. It was good to see the guys, you know, back in action that didn’t play in our first two games. Um, just getting to see everybody go out there and do their thing, grow, work on their game, and, um, try to help a team win any way that they can. Uh, this is a time to get your reps up and just show a team that you can, you know, produce. And so, everybody get opportunity now. It’s it’s always good to, you know, have these games during the preseason. Some of the the training camp invites had a chance to close out the game. Uh, but I kind of wonder about your role in, you know, when you’re sharing floor time with those guys in the different stages of the game, what are you trying to do in terms of, you know, organizing or, you know, making sure that there’s, uh, some continuity there for for them to play off of? Yeah, first and foremost, um, I I’ll say that they’ve done a really good job of just asking questions and making sure that they’re in the right places at the right time. They’ve done a tremendous job every time that they touch the floor. Um, and it shows it shows that they’ve seen the the way that the culture here shows a lot of continuity and they don’t want to come in the game and slow that down. They’ve done a really good job of picking that up. So, when I’m out there um doing my thing, but also trying to teach and I think everybody else on our team does a really good job of doing that as well. So, whenever they’re on the floor, nobody’s lost, everybody’s playing free, everybody’s having fun. How do you feel going into this season versus last year with making sure your body’s right and everything? Good. Um, excited to play. Excited to be back here in front of you guys, in front of the fans, and just play the sport that we love. Um, short summer, but a beautiful summer. And now that we’re here playing basketball again, uh, we want it, we had got the same goal in mind, we know it starts now, and so we’re just excited. Um, not too many guys have played more or been around with Jel than you. How have you seen his shot sort of progress from like high school all the way to now where he’s shooting like no dip threes? He’s he’s always worked and even in high school he he shot threes here and there, but one thing he never stopped doing was working on it and it shows. Um now he shoots with a lot of confidence whether he’s making or missing. He shoots the next one like it’s going in and at his position and what he does for the team. I think it really really helps especially the way that he creates action. He can he can roll or he can choose to pop. um something that he just continued to work on and is starting to to show out there. Um I think we talk about short summers a lot as a bad thing for a lot of teams, but with you guys being so young, having young legs, how’s that actually like benefited you? I mean, the biggest benefit is what came with it, you know, what what got us to the short summer. Um, other than that, it’s just we love to hoop and having that quick turnaround, it gets us back to doing what we love, you know, and so as much as we, you know, like to enjoy our downtime, this is what we get paid for. This is what we grew up doing. And so, every time we step on that floor, we never take it for granted. And it’s, like I said, it’s it’s what we’re here to do. And then, can you give us a little information on the hat? I was waiting for you to ask about it. I was waiting for you to ask about it. So, this is my guy, Adam, the one asking the question. This is his brand. Uh, he he he’s he’s done me the pleasure of, you know, blessing me with it. So, and it’s it’s a really nice hat. I know I hope y’all can see it. Um, Controvers Club, and it’s I’ve worn it all summer, and I don’t want this isn’t a promotional thing or anything, but I just want to say thank you to my guy, you know, let let me rock the brand. And then throughout all your days of playing basketball, can you remember a crazier shot you’ve seen in person than the one Case hit? I don’t I don’t know. I think that’s that might be top top of the list right now. I mean, no time. He basically caught it in the air and just chucked it up over the backboard, you know, that that’s top of the list. Isaiah, Mark gave you a lot of credit. The foundations of your game obviously as a shooter will never change, but he’s given you a lot of credit for tightening up the edges of your game and he gave you the example of like lowering your turnover percentage last season. What went into that for you as as a player to kind of clean that up? just being focused on it, you know, when I’m out there in the game, doing what I do best, but minim minimizing the plays that they they look at and the plays that were causing those turnovers. Obviously, working on it. Um, but just trying to just stay away from the areas that got me in trouble a lot of the times and staying true to, you know, what’s keeping me out there. Were there any other areas just kind of around the edges of your game that you looked into this offseason as well? Uh, always defense. I think especially with the the core that we have and the guys that we have out there, if you can play defense, if you can find ways when your offense isn’t going to stay on the floor, that always helps out a lot. Especially being somebody like me who, you know, is a three-point shooter and likes to score um whenever the shot’s not falling because it’s not going to fall every night. Finding other ways to to help the team win the game. Anybody else? Thanks, sir. Thank you, guys. Adam, Mark, what do you think you can learn as a team from that first half in particular on the defensive end? Seemed like the tone was really set in that first quarter and then maybe Charlotte got a little loose in the in the second quarter. Yeah, I thought we um we came out very sharp on both ends. I thought we had great carryover from the training camp practices u in the first quarter and then we had a little bit of identity drift in the second which could have been um fatigue. It could have been a number of things, but um I thought in the first quarter we were really really sharp and looked really good. Just how about the opportunity for the guys late to execute and play in a in a game that had some game pressure? Yeah, anytime the scoreboard’s on, we want to try to win the game and those guys did a really good job of focusing possession of possession. Came up with some big stops and big plays. CY had a great rebound. Zack had a great drive and then a great rebound at the end. Uh obviously um Jazzy got us a float there offensively. So uh got contributions from all those guys. They’ve done a nice job so far in these games. Jason had extended minutes in that playmaking role tonight. What you seeing like from him? Uh yeah, he was good. You know, he just he’s quietly, you know, the team’s performed at a high level while he’s been an NBA player, but he’s quietly been developing over that time, you know, and growing. And uh his floor is so high and he’s so impactful. I think it’s sometimes easy to overlook how much better he’s getting. Uh, but he is getting better, you know, in a lot of ways. Um, and that’s one of them. You know, ball, he’s more comfortable with the ball in his hands. It’s the game slowing down for him a little bit. First time you guys have gone to iHeart and Jay Will in a in the same lineup. What’ you like from that? What did you Did you see what you wanted to to see from that lineup? Uh, yeah. I didn’t know what I wanted to see. I just we hadn’t done it before and Jay Wills just shot it so well um that it really isn’t a problem offensively and so um defensively it could pose some problems uh if we overextended it but there’s probably some situations where it could be relevant uh and it’s something we’ve never looked at so there’s an opportunity to do that tonight and we wanted to take a a quick look at it. Shay obviously hit the ground running. Just what is it about his process and what you’ve seen from him that allows him to just pick up kind of where he did tonight? He’s just been, you know, I think lose like this, Alex Sheay, uh, Hart, they just have been through enough offseasons now that they kind of understand, um, the calendar, you know, and and where they need to be at certain periods of time and they kind of ramp themselves up. They understand what they need. They’re all a little bit different. Um, and he’s got a great understanding of that, you know, so he was kind of in his first uh, preseason game mode tonight. I thought all those guys pushed physically. The first two mandatories of the second quarter were called within the first two minutes and so that was a long second quarter which was good for us. We had to push through a little bit. Um but I thought all those guys did a really nice job. Along those lines, coach, um just how special is it when you have someone like Shay put forth that type of effort and first quarter of a preseason game and just I know you talked about it a lot especially last year just in the past, but just how unique is that to have just a special player like that set that type of example in the preseason? Uh, I mean, we got competitors, so, you know, you put them in a practice scrimmage and they’re going to try to win. Uh, and then, like I just said, I think those guys that have been in the league now for some time, kind of learn the paces, and they know the importance of these games in terms of getting themselves ready and getting the team ready, getting their teammates ready, and I thought they were in that mode from the jump tonight. Guys had a lot of people to throw at LaMelo tonight. Just what’ you like about the approach and I guess the the group effort it was to, you know, make things difficult for him? Yeah, it was good for us. you know, he’s a dynamic player that’s slippery and um you know, he play he’s got great range and so um you know, it’s a good look for us. You know, they all of them, you know, Miller, Trey, you know, those guys are are tough covers because of how much of the floor they use. Uh and so you got to go play them and it extends your bigs a little bit. It was a good game for us from that respect. Uh you talked about Kase earlier. Can you remember a shot that you’ve seen in person crazier than the one he hit? Um yeah, we had the um the play two years ago in Utah. It was like the 80th game of the season and the ball got stuck on the on the on the backboard and it didn’t it was a jump ball. I’ve never seen that before. Anybody else? Thank you. All right. too.

Hear from Malevy Leons, Isaiah Joe, and Head Coach Mark Daigneault following the Thunder’s 122 – 116 win over the Hornets

0:00 Malevy Leons
2:18 Isaiah Joe
7:34 Coach Daigneault

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