- Washington Wizards (1-3) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (5-0)
- When: Thursday, 30 October 2025 at 7:00pm CST
- Where: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, OK
- TV: FDSN-OK
- Offensive Rating: WAS: 111.0 (23rd) / OKC: 111.9 (21st)
- Defensive Rating: WAS: 119.1 (24th) / OKC: 103.6 (1st)
- Net Rating: WAS: -8.1 (25th) / OKC: 8.4 (6th)
The Set-Up
Little brothers. I never had one growing up, but I hear they can be a little annoying from time to time. Always copying what you do and then trying to eventually one up you. The Washington Wizards are currently in the “copying” phase of their little brother-dom. In the summer of 2023, after years of mediocrity, the Wizards finally charted a course towards a total rebuild. One of their first steps was hiring Will Dawkins, who had previously held the position of Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Oklahoma City Thunder, under the tutelage of Sam Presti. Dawkins played a big part in overseeing the OKC rebuild which began in the summer of 2019 and saw them be a play-in team by the time he departed in 2023.
Under Dawkins, the Wizards are charting a similar path in their rebuild. They started by offloading their aging, expensive star in Bradley Beal in exchange for Chris Paul and a haul of draft picks (sound familiar?). Then they traded Kristaps Porzingis and somehow acquired Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala (again, sound familiar?). In all, they’ve started to build through the draft and a currently in the “roster exploration” phase of their rebuild. The team looks like they have some good pieces, but the question in any rebuild is always: do you have a potential top-5 player on your team? And that answer is currently “No” for the ‘Zards.
This is the first of two meetings this season between the Thunder and Wizards. The Thunder have won 6 straight games against Washington, dating back to 2022, by an average margin of 21 points.
Betting Info presented by FanDuel
- Line: OKC -15.5
- O/U: 230.5
Injury Report
OKC
- Chet Holmgren – OUT (back)
- Isaiah Joe – Questionable (knee)
- Thomas Sorber – OFS (knee – ACL)
- Nikola Topic – OUT (cancer treatment)
- Jalen Williams – OUT (wrist)
- Kenrich Williams – OUT (knee)
WAS
- Marvin Bagley III – Questionable (ankle)
Three Big Things
- Upset Potential – I wouldn’t say this is a trap game, because the previous game and the next game after this one aren’t necessarily match-ups of interest. But, for as young as the Wizards are, they’ve at least been competitive in their first four games. With the champs coming into this game tired and injured, this could be a game where the young Washington squad comes into it inspired, trying to win one for their general manager.
- Scoring in the Paint – The Thunder are 9th in the league in points in the paint at 54 points per game. The Wizards are the 8th worst team in defending points in the paint, allowing 55 points per game. With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Ajay Mitchell consistently getting into the paint, this could be how the Thunder take control of this game.
- Nikola Topic – As I was typing this up, I just received the news that Topic, who had a testicular procedure several weeks ago, is confirmed to be suffering from testicular cancer. It’s another tough break for the young man who sat out his rookie season recovering from a torn ACL and now sees his sophomore season in jeopardy because of this God-forsaken ailment. Prayers up that they caught it early and it becomes just a blip on Topic’s life journey. As someone who lost a parent to cancer, this cuts deep. As always when it comes to this subject matter: Fuck Cancer! If you want to help in the fight, please consider donating to the American Cancer Society. And if you donate because of this, please mark it down as: in honor of Nikola Topic.
vs. 
