The NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder and reigning league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will play a preseason game against the Charlotte Hornets at the North Charleston Coliseum this fall, multiple sources have confirmed to The Post and Courier.
The game has been set for Oct. 5 with the time for the tipoff to be determined.
The game is part of the Hornets' extended stay in the Lowcountry. Charlotte will hold part of its preseason training camp at The Citadel’s downtown campus from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4.
NBA Finals Thunder Pacers Basketball
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) signed a $285 million contract extension earlier this month. Abbie Parr - AP
Despite Charleston being more than 200 miles from the closest NFL, NBA or NHL franchise, the Hornets are one of several professional franchises that have come to the Holy City in recent years, not only for its history and food scene, but for practices and team bonding as well.
This is the fourth straight year The Citadel will host an NBA team as part of its preseason training camp at the downtown military school.
The Philadelphia 76ers (2022) and the New York Knicks (2023, 2024) worked out at The Citadel’s McAlister Field House in preparation for the regular season.
The NBA isn’t the only professional sports league to use Charleston as a training base.
The NHL’s St. Louis Blues worked at the Carolina Ice Palace and North Charleston Coliseum twice — once in 2013, then again in 2022.
In 2008, the Phoenix Coyotes, coached by Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky, spent two days in the Lowcountry while Super Bowl XLII was being held in Arizona.
The Buffalo Sabres held their preseason camp in the Lowcountry in the early 2000s.
In the 1990s with Pat Riley as their head coach, the Knicks would come to the Lowcountry — practicing at College of Charleston — for part of their preseason camp.
Earlier this week, Gilgeous-Alexander agreed to a four-year, $285 million super maximum contract extension with Oklahoma City through the 2030-31 season, which is now the richest annual salary for a player in league history.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who averaged a league-high 32.7 points during the regular season and 30.3 in the NBA Finals, joined an exclusive list of players to win the MVP and Finals MVP in the same season. The 26-year-old also became the first player to win a scoring title and NBA championship in the same season since O'Neal in 2000.
The Hornets' roster boasts two elite wing players in guard LaMelo Ball and forward Miles Bridges, who both averaged more than 20 points a game last season.
This isn’t the first time the Hornets have played an exhibition game at the coliseum.
In 2012, the then-Charlotte Bobcats faced the New Orleans Hornets — a game that featured No. 1 overall pick, and future NBA champion, Anthony Davis against Charlotte’s Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the second pick in the draft.
In 2009, the Bobcats played the Cleveland Cavaliers, whose roster featured LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal.