Thunder Keeping Their Options Open When Asked About Starting Lineup

The Oklahoma City Thunder are keepign their options open regarding the starting five as training camp arrives.

May 9, 2024; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault walks onto the court during a time out against the Dallas Mavericks during the second quarter of game two of the second round for the 2024 NBA playoffs at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Media Day has arrived for the Oklahoma City Thunder who will be peppered with questions ranging from the pressurized expectations placed on them this season to what they have worked on throughout the summer.

Though, as head coach Mark Daigneault took the podium there was only one thing on everyone's mind - Who starts?

This is a fruitless exercise for a bench boss that doesn't even relinquish his first five 90 minutes before tip-off during his pregame media sessions, but an effort had to be made to see if Daigneault would let the media crack the code on how the sideline pacer will handle Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein with the core three of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren alongside longtime starter Lu Dort.

That is plenty of balls in the air for Daigneault to juggle. but as he was peppered with questions about the starting lineup the constant theme remained that the Thunder would be keeping their options open.

"The ball hasn't bounced yet. For me to come up here and talk about specific roles would be completely undermining the integrity of training camp," Daigneault said when prompted about Hartenstein's potential role as a backup or being used in double-big lineups.

"Every year you have a new team, this year is no different...Every year you go into training camp with the same goal to establish your on-court identity and build the habits you are going to need," the Thunder bench boss stated when discussing the team's newest acquisitions.

Mark Daigneault on Isaiah Hartenstein's role "The ball hasn't bounced yet. For me to come up here and talk about specific roles would be completely undermining the integrity of training camp."

— Rylan Stiles (@Rylan_Stiles) September 30, 2024

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