Thunder Forward Aleksej Pokusevski Reassigned to G-League
Thunder forward Aleksej Pokusevski was again assigned to Oklahoma City’s G-League affiliate on Tuesday.
Perhaps the most perplexing and polarizing player in, and out, the NBA, this won’t be Pokusevski’s first G-League stint.
In his rookie season, Pokusevski saw a batch of rough games before being assigned to the G-League for the first time. While he wasn’t overly productive in his first stint, he returned a new man, seeing much more median numbers for a rookie.
Poku’s reassignment this time however isn’t a matter of his play, but more than likely the plan.
Taken with the 17th overall pick in the 2020 Draft at the age of 18-years-old, Pokusevski is the project to end all project. When drafted, he was likely three years away from even being a net positive in the lineup.
A 7-footer with innate passing, rebounding and occasional shot-blocking skills, Pokusevski has no real role to fill within the current Thunder configuration.
With Rookie Josh Giddey filling the role of tall facilitator and scorer, Pokusevski has been more of a bench piece thus far this season.
He’s found some slim production at times on the bench, limiting misses and turnovers. Other times, he reverts back to his rookie self, creating several bad sequences in a row with careless play and poor defense.
But with the Blue, Pokusevski will be able to run free, continuing to develop in nearly every area. Next season should be his first real look at generating valuable minutes.
While he put up normal stats in his first stint — 7.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists in 13 games — he’ll need to see much more production in this go round.
Oklahoma City will play Washington tonight at 6 p.m.
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