Thunder Forward Aleksej Pokusevski is Ready to Leap Forward

The young prospect has proven he’s ready for a larger role next season.

A first-round pick in 2019, Oklahoma City Thunder forward Aleksej Pokusevski is a long-term project. Being a 7-footer with guard skills makes him intriguing, but there’s quite a few things he still needs to improve on.

Last season, Pokusevski took a huge leap forward. It took time, but things started to click. Early in the season, he got off to a slow start. As he began to get more comfortable, he earned an increase role in which he thrived.

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Can Pokusevski take another leap next season and continue to prove he’s a capable NBA player in a significant role?

Through the first 36 games of the Serbian prospect’s season, he produced just 4.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.1 assists per contest. Pokusevski also struggled to make shots at an efficient rate, shooting 35.8% from the field and 23.0% from deep.

Following a short stint in the G League where he earned confidence, Pokusevski began to hit his stride. Over his final 25 games of the 2021-22 season, he averaged 12.0 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists while shooting 44.5% from the floor and 33.6% from deep.

Between these two stints of games, Pokusevski’s time on the floor increased from 15.1 minutes to 27.6 minutes per contest.

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As the season went on, Oklahoma City continued to play less meaningful games and more players got hurt. Pokusevski seized this opportunity and got valuable minutes that can help him carry momentum into next season.

Between now and then he’ll look to have a key offseason, as well as a quality showing in NBA Summer League.

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