Are Michael Winger and Sam Presti allowed to exchange notes at halftime?

One team enters Wednesday’s matchup as the second-youngest roster in the NBA and owns a treasure trove of future assets. The other team resides in Washinton. The Oklahoma City Thunder make their annual trip to our nation’s capital to take on the Wizards.

Game info

When: Wednesday, January 8 at 7 p.m. ET.

Where: Capital One Arena, Washington D.C.

TV: Monumental Sports Network

Radio: The Team 980 AM or 106.7-2 FM

Injuries

Wizards: Landry Shamet (hamstring, out)

Thunder: None

Pregame notes

Raging Thunder – The Thunder are reeling from two consecutive losses to start off their 4-game East road trip. The first was a “scheduled” loss on the back night of a B2B in Atlanta. The second was a Brooklyn beatdown in which they trailed by 32 points. Prior to those losses, the Thunder were 8-1 over their last 9 with wins against the Celtics, Clippers, Knicks, Timberwolves, and Nuggets twice. Expect them to come out motivated against the bottom-dwelling Wiz.

Defenseless Wizards – Washington’s league-worst defense has looked as flimsy as ever over their current 4-game losing streak. Opponents shot 51.5% from the field and averaged 126.3 points per game against the Wizards during that stretch. The sad part is that both figures aren’t anomalies — they’re right around the Wizards’ defensive averages this season. Go figure.

Flashback: SGA stuns Wiz in D.C.

The Wizards looked much different the last time these two teams faced off in Washington. Kristaps Porzingis led the Wiz in scoring with 27 points. Bradley Beal tallied 25 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. But it was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who had the final say the last time he was around with the game-winning triple to cap off his 42 points.