Major Starting Lineup Change for Thunder vs. Mavericks Revealed

The Oklahoma City Thunder are making a major change to their starting lineup for Game 5 against the Dallas Mavericks. With Josh Giddey struggling in the series, and Dallas essentially ignoring him offensively, the Thunder have decided to start Isaiah Joe in his place.

This was a move that many felt would come at some point, as Joe is able to space the floor in a way that Giddey is unable to. The Thunder will likely still utilize Giddey off the bench, but he will not be starting in this game.

As previously mentioned, Giddey’s inability to space the floor often makes things challenging for Oklahoma City offensively, and while he still brings different things to the game, his lack of gravity is something the Thunder decided was inhibiting their starting lineup too much.

It will be interesting to see if this is a change the Thunder stick with for multiple games, but for now it is the move they are going to in this critical Game 5. Oklahoma City has been able to survive with Giddey starting throughout this postseason, but as the Thunder get deeper into the playoffs and their margin for error decreases, it is time for them to optimize their lineups.

With one of the best players in the world in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder want to make sure he has the best pieces around him to begin the game.

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