The Oklahoma City Thunder are under investigation by the NBA after sitting key players against the Portland Trail Blazers on March 7:
The NBA is investigating the Oklahoma City Thunder for potentially violating league's player participation policy, sources tell ESPN. Game under review is OKC’s March 7 win over Portland in which Thunder starting 5 (Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams, Holmgren, Dort, Hartenstein) sat.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 15, 2025
The west’s best Thunder bested the Blazers that night 107-89 despite sitting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Lu Dort, and Isaiah Hartenstein.
Oklahoma City’s key contributors that night included Aaron Wiggins (30 points), Alex Caruso (17 points), and Isaiah Joe and Ousmane Dieng with 16 points apiece. Scoot Henderson was Portland’s key scorer that night hitting 22 points.
Before the game, Rose Garden Report’s Sean Highkin highlighted that a Blazers win might be beneficial to the Thunder in the long run.
The NBA’s Player Participation Policy focuses on “star” players. A star player for purposes of the policy is any player who, in any of the prior three seasons, was selected to an All-NBA Team or an NBA All-Star team. If a star player does not participate in a game, their team must demonstrate an approved reason to the league.
The NBA fined the Utah Jazz on Wednesday for sitting Lauri Markkanen for injury management, and the Brooklyn Nets in January for benching Mikal Bridges after the first quarter.