Jordi Fernandez knew he was faced with an impossible task Sunday when he arrived at Paycom Center.
The Brooklyn head coach bore the burden of containing OKC's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who he got plenty familiar with last summer when he coached Canada's men's basketball team during its Paris Olympics run.
Fernandez saw the way Gilgeous-Alexander workedeach day. He saw the way the star guard broke down his opponent with a ruthlessness that contradicted Canada's nice-guy stereotype. And, most importantly, he saw the way Gilgeous-Alexander refused to let that same thing be done to him.
"You can't break him, and that makes him special," Fernandez said before the game. "His size. His handle. His shooting. It's everything."
Fernandez saw that once again Sunday.
OKC routed Brooklyn 127-101 thanks to the strong play of Gilgeous-Alexander, who returned after missing the team's road loss to Dallas on Friday with a sprained right wrist. He finished with 27 points and 10 assists, and he showed the same brilliance that drew Fernandez's admiration last summer.
Gilgeous-Alexander punished the Nets whenever a big man got switched onto him, like when he shed Noah Clowney with a spin move in the first quarter and threw down a two-handed slam. He punished them when they got too physical by going 10 for 10 from the free throw line. He even punished them when they brought extra defenders by recording 10 assists, marking his fourth double double of the season.
The only time Brooklyn received mercy was when Gilgeous-Alexander sat out the entire fourth quarter of the blowout game. His work was done after just 29 minutes of action, and he watched as OKC (35-7) cruise to victory.
Here are three takeaways from the win:
NBA All-Star roster predictions:NBA All-Star roster predictions: Will OKC Thunder forward Jalen Williams make the cut?
Isaiah Joe is finally calibrated
Isaiah Joe benefited from being in the orbit of his star teammate last season.
He regularly witnessed the gravitational pull of Gilgeous-Alexander, whose drives to the rim caused opposing defenses to collapse like a black hole. And that left Joe alone on the perimeter for easy kick-out opportunities.
Those open looks helped Joe shoot a career-high 41.6% from deep. But as OKC prepared for the start of this season, head coach Mark Daigneault felt the fifth-year guard could be more than just a stationary shooter.
So Daigneault put Joe on the move more and ran more plays through him to start the campaign. It was a big change, and Joe only shot 34.9% from deep through his first 30 outings as a result.
"We're willing to take a step backwards to take two steps forward," Daigneault said. "It takes a little calibrating. It is different, so (Joe) went through a little bit of growing pains there."
Joe is finally calibrated.
He erupted for 24 points Sunday on 8-for-10 shooting from deep, which tied his career high for made threes. And while Joe was able to catch and shoot on some of those makes, he made others on the move with a level of comfort he didn't have earlier this season.
Joe has been lethal from 3-point range since the start of the new year. He's shooting 49.2% in that department through OKC's 10 games this month.
"I'm just a guy who's constantly working on my shot," Joe said. "It's just a combination of me putting in hours, having confidence in myself, my shot and my skills. And then my teammates (are) having the ability and being willing to make the extra pass and find me when I'm open."
Joe's big night came at the perfect time for OKC, which needed to replace the scoring production of Jalen Williams. The third-year forward missed his first game of the season due to a right hip strain.
Joe now ranks 39th in the NBA in made 3-pointers this season (93), and he's quickly climbing the list. When asked if he's making a late push to compete in the 3-point contest during All-Star weekend, Joe cracked a smile.
"I'm just trying to win games," Joe said. "It's not my job to keep an eye on that. If they put me in there, I'll be grateful for the opportunity. But at this point, I'm just trying to win games, keep improving personally and through the team. It's as simple as that."
More:OKC Thunder's Mark Daigneault named 2025 NBA All-Star Game head coach
Branden Carlson continues to impress on 10-day contract
Athletes are often told to play like today could be their last day. It’s a cliché phrase, like many others in the sports world.
But there was some truth to it Sunday for Branden Carlson, whose 10-day contract with OKC ends Monday.
OKC’s game against Brooklyn marked Carlson's final opportunity to leave a strong impression on the front office, which can bring him back on one more 10-day deal before it must either sign him for the rest of the season or release him.
And Carlson made the most of it. The undrafted rookie center out of Utah finished with eight points, five rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block in 18 minutes on a night when OKC was without both Chet Holmgren (hip) and Isaiah Hartenstein (calf).
Carlson showed no fear when launching his five 3-point attempts, two of which went down. He even gave his best Hartenstein impression by sinking an eight-foot push shot late in the first quarter.
OKC signed Carlson to a standard one-year deal on Nov. 16. It then waived him on Jan. 7 before it signed him to a 10-day contract on Jan. 10. He has averaged 5.5 points and 2.3 rebounds in 9.2 minutes throughout six games since then.
"All he's ever done since he's been here is been consistent and reliable," Daigneault said. "He does exactly what we ask him to do, and his performance has been consistent as a result. So when a guy approaches it with that consistency and performs consistently, all the different opportunities he gets, even if they're just end-of-game minutes, eventually you have to take note of that."
OKC has one remaining standard roster spot, although that'll surely go to Ajay Mitchell.
The rookie guard is on a two-way contract, but he averaged 6.4 points and two rebounds in 16.5 minutes through 34 games before he suffered a turf toe sprain in his big right toe. OKC announced on Jan. 10 that Mitchell underwent a successful procedure, and it said at the time that he'd be re-evaluated in 10 to 12 weeks.
Once Mitchell is converted to a standard deal, that'll free up a two-way contract spot. It could certainly go to Carlson, especially since OKC is need of center depth.
Chet Holmgren injury update:Thunder star progressing, will be re-evaluated in 3-5 weeks
Mark Daigneault named NBA All-Star Game head coach
Daigneault and his staff will serve as coaches during the 2025 NBA All-Star Game in San Francisco on Feb. 16.
Daigneault and his staff earned the honor following OKC's 127-101 home win over Brooklyn on Sunday. The victory helped the Thunder (35-7) clinch the best record in the Western Conference through games played on Feb. 2.
This marks Daigneault's first time as an All-Star Game head coach. He's also the first OKC head coach to get the nod since Scott Brooks in the 2013-14 season.
"(It's) an honor," Daigneault said. "Huge thank you to all the people that are behind the scenes on that in the organization. ... This has been a build, and a lot of people have their fingerprints on that, so a huge thank you to them. And then a huge thank you to the assistant coaching staff, many of which have been here for a long time and put in a lot of work."
Daigneault will coach one of the four All-Star teams, while one of his assistant coaches will coach another.
The final two coaching spots will go to the head coach of the best team in the Eastern Conference as of Feb. 2 and one of his assistant coaches. Cleveland, which is led by head coach Kenny Atkinson, holds a 6.5-game lead over Boston for the top seed with eight games left until the cutoff date.
"He's a helluva coach," Joe said of Daigneault. "We can't do this by ourselves. We have a great staff and we have a great system. It starts with the coaching and how they implement our schemes for the game, so him having the ability to go out there and coach the All-Star Game, big congrats to him. His work isn't going unnoticed either."
Once all 24 All-Stars have been selected, they'll be placed into a pool and drafted by three teams on Feb. 6 with TNT analysts Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith serving as honorary general managers. The fourth competing team will be the winner of the Rising Stars event, which is scheduled for Feb. 14.
Those four teams will play two semifinal games beginning at 7 p.m. CST on Feb. 16 (TNT), and the winners will advance to the championship game. Teams will need to score 40 or more points to advance.
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Thunder vs. Jazz
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