Toronto Raptors vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Matchup: Here come the Canadians

Who’s the best Canadian baller in the NBA right now? With all respect to Jamal Murray, RJ Barrett, and Andrew Wiggins, the answer has to be Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, right?

SGA is on an absolute tear this season, averaging 31.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 5.6 assists through 10 games. The Oklahoma City Thunder remain pretty terrible, but their 4-7 record (with a -2.3 point differential and -2.5 net rating) is actually respectable given that their joke of a franchise is in perpetual tank mode and does everything it can to win as few games as possible. If there’s anything respectable coming out of OKC, it’s coming by way of SGA.

Gilgeous-Alexander has at least one other teammate who goes hard as hell every play, and that’s his fellow Canuck Luguentz Dort. Dort’s numbers are down a bit this year thanks to a protracted shooting slump to start the season, but he’s still a menace on defense.

It’s safe to say that Gilgeous-Alexander and Dort will be staples of the Canadian National team for as long as they want to be. I think it’s also safe to say that the lone NBA franchise in their home country would be happy to see them come and play here — I know Toronto Raptors fans would surely love to see Gilgeous-Alexander in Raptors colours.

Maybe one day…!

For now all we can hope is that he doesn’t completely eviscerate the shorthanded Raptors tonight. Toronto is still without Pascal Siakam and Khem Birch, and of course, Precious Achiuwa now joins them on the sidelines with his recent ankle injury.

For the Thunder, Darius Bazley is dealing with an ankle sprain, and of course they lost top draft pick Chet Holmgren for the season with a foot injury in the summertime.

Where to watch:

Sportsnet, 8:00 PM ET

Lineups:

Toronto Raptors — Scottie Barnes, OG Anunoby, Gary Trent Jr., Christian Koloko, Fred VanVleet

Oklahoma City Thunder — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, Aleksej Pokuševski, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Josh Giddey

Injuries:

Toronto Raptors — Khem Birch (knee – out), Pascal Siakam (groin – out), Precious Achiuwa (ankle – out)

Oklahoma City Thunder — Darius Bazley (ankle– out), Chet Holmgren (foot – out)