- Oklahoma City Thunder (15-1, 1st in the West) @ Utah Jazz (5-9, 10th in the West)
- When: Friday, 21 November 2025 at 9:00pm CST
- Where: Delta Center, Salt Lake City, UT
- TV: FDSN-OK
- Offensive Rating: UTA: 113.9 (21st) / OKC: 118.1 (5th)
- Defensive Rating: UTA: 119.1 (25th) / OKC: 102.7 (1st)
- Net Rating: UTA: -5.2 (23rd) / OKC: 15.3 (1st)
The Set-Up
Cup Night! It’s weird, but this little experiment seems to be working. Players seem to be getting up for these games and the optics of the court and the jerseys make it something to look forward to. In addition, teams know that point differential matters, so they are staying on the gas for the full 48 minutes. Teams know they only get one game against each of the teams in their group, so the competitiveness of the games is ratcheted up. Anything can happen in a one-game series. And that’s the beauty of the Cup.
This is the first of four meetings this season between these Northwest Division rivals. OKC swept the season series last year, winning the four games by an average of 23.3 points.
Betting Info, presented by FanDuel
- Line: OKC -16.5
- O/U: 234.5
Injury Report
OKC
- Thomas Sorber – OFS (knee/ACL)
- Nikola Topic – OUT (cancer treatment)
- Aaron Wiggins – OUT (adductor strain
- Jalen Williams – OUT (wrist)
- Kenrich Williams – OUT (knee)
UTA
- Kyle Filipowski – Questionable (wrist)
- Georges Niang – OUT (foot)
- Walker Kessler – OFS (shoulder)
Three Big Things
- Home-Cooking – The Utah Jazz are the OKC Thunder of home teams. In their seven home games (four of which have been wins), the Jazz rank 1st in points per game (134.0 ppg), 1st in free throws attempted (32.3 per game), 1st in free throws made (27 per game), 1st in rebounds per game (50.4 per game), 1st in assists per game (33 per game), 2nd in offensive rating, 3rd in 3-point FGs made, and 6th in True Shooting %. Lauri Markkanen is averaging 9 more points per game at home than on the road and shooting nearly 18% higher on threes in the friendly confines of the Delta Center. This team is just different when they play at home.
- Controlling the glass – Utah is one of the top rebounding teams in the league. Even with Walker Kessler being out the last nine games (and out of the season), Utah has still ranked 5th in offensive rebounds per game, 4th in total rebounds per game, and 7th in rebound percentage. This, in turn, fuels the 2nd chance opportunities to the tune of 18.1 points per game. There aren’t many things that fuel young teams at home than 2nd chance opportunities.
- Turn them over – While strong on the glass, the Jazz suffer from the ailment that pains many young teams: their inability to limit turnovers. Utah nearly dead last in turnovers and does a bad job of limiting points off of turnovers. OKC, on the other hand, leads the league in causing turnovers and in points off of turnovers.