The Oklahoma City Thunder suffered its eighth loss of the season on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
In a narrow 122-120 defeat against the Miami Heat, OKC attempted 77 field goals, while the Heat finished with 111 field goal attempts. This discrepancy, combined with Miami’s success from beyond the arc, led the Heat to a win despite Oklahoma City connecting on one more field goal attempt during the contest.<\/p>\n
A significant part of Miami’s large number of shot attempts was the team’s efforts on the glass, as Erik Spoelstra’s group finished with five more rebounds than the Thunder. The Heat’s 51 total rebounds included 21 offensive boards compared to just five for the OKC.<\/p>\n
This marks the second consecutive game that Mark Daigneault’s team has finished with fewer rebounds than an opponent, as the Houston Rockets grabbed 16 more boards in the Thunder’s most recent victory.<\/p>\n
Isaiah Hartenstein returning to Oklahoma City’s lineup will cerntainly help on the glass, but Sam Presti and company also have the potential to add skilled rebounders in the 2026 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n
In a recent projection from Derek Parker at NBA Draft on SI<\/a>, the Thunder added a pair of players who will help on the glass.<\/p>\n At No. 8 overall, Parker paired Michigan big man Yaxel Lendeborg with Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n A fifth-year senior who started his career at the junior college level before starring at UAB, Lendeborg transferred to Michigan over the offseason after testing the NBA Draft waters in 2025. In his first year with the Wolverines, Lendeborg is averaging 14.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 51.6% from the field and 34.2% from 3-point range.<\/p>\n At the NBA Combine, Lendeborg measured 6-foot-8 and half an inch without shoes while recording a massive 7-foot-4 wingspan. Lendeborg length and skillset could make him an ideal fit with the Thunder as a disruptive defensive player who can also pass and rebound on offense.<\/p>\n At No. 19 in Parker’s mock draft, the Thunder added Iowa State senior Joshua Jefferson. <\/p>\n Like Lendeborg, Jefferson is a versatile big man who can pass and rebound well. Listed at 6-foot-9 and 240 pounds, the senior is averaging 17.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.4 steals and a block per game while shooting 48.8% from the field and 36% from 3-point range.<\/p>\n Like Lendeborg, Jefferson’s size and unique blend of skills as a rebounder and passer could make a solid fit to fill a role similar to Hartenstein.<\/p>\n Finally, at No. 23 overall, Parked paired Iowa point guard Bennett Stirtz with the Thunder.<\/p>\n Listed at 6-foot-4 and 190 pounds, Stirtz is averaging 18.2 points, 5 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals while shooting 48.4% from the field and 38.9% from deep on 6 attempts per game. A good shooter and playmaker, Stirtz could be a solid addition to Oklahoma City’s bench unit.<\/p>\n Want to join the discussion? Like\u00a0Thunder on SI<\/a>\u00a0on Facebook and\u00a0follow us on Twitter<\/a>\u00a0to stay up to date on all the latest Thunder news. You can also\u00a0meet the team<\/a>\u00a0behind the coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Oklahoma City Thunder suffered its eighth loss of the season on Saturday night. In a narrow 122-120…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-418052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}