The Oklahoma City Thunder will look to pile on the misery on the Atlanta Hawks when the teams face off at the Paycom Center on Monday, with the game tipping off at 8 PM ET.
The Thunder bounced back from their first two-game losing streak of the season by beating the Philadelphia 76ers 129-104 last time out on Sunday. The defending champions had lost their way a bit by losing four of six, but still have the best record in the NBA at 27-5.
As for the Hawks, they’re on a slippery slope after losing six in a row. The latest setback, a 128-125 loss to the New York Knicks on Saturday, dropped them to 15-18. The Hawks were looked at as a dark horse in the East coming into this season, and are now down at 10th in the standings.
Jalen Johnson has been the biggest bright spot for the Hawks, averaging 23.7 points, 10.4 rebounds, 8.4 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game. Unfortunately, there’s some bad news regarding Johnson that we’ll get to in a bit.
The Thunder, meanwhile, will be led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The reigning MVP is averaging 32.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game. He’s been sensational.
This will be the second and final regular-season meeting between these teams in 2025-26, with the Thunder winning 117-100 when they met on Oct. 25.
Injury Report
Thunder (still waiting for the official report, but these were the absentees against the 76ers)
Ousmane Dieng: Out (right calf strain)
Thomas Sorber: Out (right ACL surgical recovery)
Nikola Topic: Out (surgical recovery)
Jaylin Williams: Out (right heel bursitis)
Hawks
N’Faly Dante: Out (right knee torn ACL)
Jalen Johnson: Out (illness)
Eli John Ndiaye: Out (G League – Two-Way)
Kristaps Porzingis: Out (illness)
Nikola Djurisic: Questionable (G League – on assignment)
Caleb Houstan: Questionable (G League – Two-Way)
Malik Williams: Questionable (G League – Two-Way)
Trae Young: Questionable (right quad contusion)
Why The Thunder Have The Advantage
Well, the Thunder would have had a big edge even if the Hawks were fully healthy. With all those absentees, most notably Johnson with the illness, this is going to get rough.
The Thunder have wobbled recently, as mentioned earlier, but it’s just one team they have had a lot of trouble against. They’re 0-3 against the San Antonio Spurs this season and 27-2 against everyone else.
Jalen Williams had a rather simple explanation for the Thunder’s struggles against the Spurs, as he pointed to Victor Wembanyama’s presence. There’s no Wembanyama on the Hawks to give them a headache on offense.
The Thunder’s 118.5 offensive rating this season ranks fifth in the NBA, and they should be able to slice and dice this Hawks defense. The visitors’ 115.8 defensive rating ranks 19th, and Gilgeous-Alexander had 30 points in under 29 minutes when they met earlier.
Williams didn’t even play in that game, and the Thunder still managed to rack up 99 points by the end of the third quarter. All the big guns look set to be available this time around, so they should have little trouble here either.
As for the defensive end, well, things could get really ugly here for the Hawks if Trae Young joins Johnson on the sidelines. For all his flaws, Young, who is averaging 19.3 points, 1.5 rebounds, 8.9 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game in 2025-26, is still a very good offensive player. You need as many of them as possible against this team.
The Thunder’s 104.6 defensive rating is the best in the NBA by a mile. If you take Johnson and Young out of the equation, the Hawks are going to struggle massively to score. Even if Young does play, that defense is going to make life difficult for him. He had just 15 points on 5-12 shooting from the field in that first meeting. All signs point to this being a very rough night for the Hawks.
Why The Hawks Have The Advantage
It’s really hard to make any case for the Hawks here. If Johnson, Young, and Kristaps Porzingis were all healthy, you might have given them a puncher’s chance. With potentially all of them being out, it’s going to take a miracle. The Hawks will need Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Onyeka Okongwu to have the game of their lives here.
Alexander-Walker is averaging 20.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game in 2025-26. He is the Hawks’ second-leading scorer and did have a team-high 17 points in that first game against the Thunder.
Okongwu, meanwhile, has been putting up 16.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game. He had a double-double in the first meeting.
The Hawks will also need Dyson Daniels, runner-up for DPOY in 2025, to do something that no one has done this season, which is lock down Gilgeous-Alexander. The Canadian has scored at least 20 points in 103 straight games at this point. If Daniels can end that streak, then maybe the Hawks have a shot.
Thunder vs. Hawks Prediction
We have seen undermanned teams pull off stunning upsets a lot of times over the years. Is that going to happen here, though? No. The Thunder should cruise to victory.
Thunder 125, Hawks 95
