By CLIFF BRUNT AP Sports Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points, and the Oklahoma City Thunder improved to 6-0 by beating the Washington Wizards 127-108 on Thursday night.
Reserve Ajay Mitchell added 20 points for the Thunder. He made all six of his free throws and has been perfect on 19 attempts from the line this season.
Isaiah Joe, who missed Oklahoma City’s first five games with a knee bruise, scored 20 points and made five 3-pointers for a team that entered the night last in the league in 3-point percentage at 28.8%.
Oklahoma City forced 22 turnovers and had only six. Cason Wallace led the Thunder with four steals and Alex Caruso had three.
CJ McCollum had 19 points and Bilal Coulibaly added 16 for Washington, which lost its third straight and fell to 1-4.
Despite their perfect record, all isn’t well for the defending NBA champion Thunder.
Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti announced earlier in the day that guard Nikola Topic had been diagnosed with testicular cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.
Topic had a testicular procedure earlier in the month. The Thunder said at the time he’d be out for at least four weeks.
Presti said doctors are “extremely positive” about the long-term outlook.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said Topic is in relatively good spirits. He said Topic has been working out throughout the process and he will continue to be around the team.
“He’s doing great given the circumstances, which is unsurprising,” Daigneault said. “Sam mentioned this today, but there’s no one at 20 years old more equipped with the maturity and discipline and toughness to handle a situation like this than he is.”
Topic was expected to be an important addition to a team that otherwise changed very little after winning the NBA title last season. A first-round pick in 2024, he missed the entire 2024-2025 season while recovering from a torn ACL. He played in summer league this year and started a preseason game against Charlotte, posting 10 points and seven assists in Oklahoma City’s 135-114 win.
Daigneault said the players are well-equipped to offer support.
“The instincts of our players and the authenticity of our players and the character of our players — that’s what they lean on in all unfamiliar situations, if it is unfamiliar to some of them,” Daigneault said. “And that’s why I’m so confident in the environment around Nikola as he goes through this, because our locker room is amazing in all situations, and they will rise to this just like he’ll rise to this.”
Other health issues have been present throughout the season, too. Oklahoma City was again without injured star forwards Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams. Holmgren has missed the past two games with lower back soreness. Williams hasn’t played this season while recovering from offseason surgery on his right wrist.
It was announced on Friday that Williams will miss at least 10 more days. The team announced that he had a follow-up procedure to remove a screw that was causing irritation just as he neared a return to action. He will be re-evaluated in 10 to 14 days.
Dr. Steven Shin performed the initial procedure and the follow-up at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Williams averaged 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 1.6 steals last season, and he was named to the All-NBA third team and the NBA All-Defensive second team. He was injured late in the regular season and played in all 23 postseason games with the injury. He averaged 23.6 points and 5.0 rebounds in the Finals against the Indiana Pacers, including a 40-point outburst in Game 5.
As has been the case in these early weeks, Oklahoma City conducted business as usual.
The Thunder closed the first half on a 15-5 run to take a 59-49 lead at the break. Gilgeous-Alexander had 20 points in the first half and Joe added 14.
Washington cut its deficit to 83-81 late in the third, but Oklahoma City closed the quarter on a 9-3 run. A 3-pointer by Jaylin Williams in the final second of the period put the Thunder up 92-84.
Oklahoma City’s largest lead was 24 points in the fourth quarter.
Up Next
Oklahoma City hosts the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday.
