The Oklahoma City Thunder held practice on April 14, 2026, as they prepare for the playoffs, awaiting the eighth seed from the play-in tournament. Head coach Mark Daigneault and players Jalen Williams and Isaiah Joe spoke to the media about their playoff readiness and individual confidence.
The Oklahoma City Thunder held practice on Tuesday. For the third straight year, they're enjoying a week off as they await to see who grabs the eighth seed on Friday at the conclusion of the play-in tournament.
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault, Jalen Williams and Isaiah Joe talked to the media after practice. Expect OKC to roll out a couple of players throughout this week as they prepare for Sunday's Game 1 of their Round 1 playoff series.
Daigneault talked about the logistics of preparing for the four play-in tournament teams. Williams opened up about how he feels heading into the playoffs after being limited by injuries in the regular season. Joe talked about his confidence as he hopes to have a strong playoff run.
Here's what else happened at OKC's Tuesday, Apr. 14 practice:
Thunder practice today as they await their Round 1 opponent. The first of many playoff practices pic.twitter.com/aqr10hVTIl
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
Jalen Williams asked the local media to sing him ‘Happy Birthday’ as he turns 25 today before the scrum started
When asked his birthday wish, he said: “To get out of here as fast as possible.” pic.twitter.com/dJrO0XxQ9B
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
Jalen Williams on how he physically feels heading into the playoffs: “I feel extremely fresh because I played like 12 games.” pic.twitter.com/U0PtU7KNms
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
Jalen Williams on Chet Holmgren: “I think All-Star will give him a lot of confidence. I think anytime you have solidified success, where people are realizing it, it gives you a little confidence boost. I think winning obviously gives you the utmost confidence.” pic.twitter.com/Z21YUuaoSb
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
Jalen Williams on how SGA has improved this season: “The 3s is the biggest. It's hard to put a finger on it when I think he's gonna get MVP again.” pic.twitter.com/4iWvirPaHu
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
Jalen Williams on if they talked about going back-to-back: “We’ve talked about it. Sam made a really good point. You can play the Finals back last year 6 million times, and there's a lot of times we don't win it. Like, Memphis, somebody can get hurt. You just never know. I know… pic.twitter.com/b7zGUsTqqV
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
Jalen Williams on the importance of homecourt advantage: “It's extremely important. Otherwise, I don't think everybody will be trying to get the records… Last year, it saved us a couple times.” pic.twitter.com/uc0BTNkPDM
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
Isaiah Joe on how he feels entering the playoffs: “I feel like my shot is in a good spot… I feel like we’re in a better position now than we were last season.” pic.twitter.com/rQttfwhdqa
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
Isaiah Joe on if they talked about going back-to-back: “I think something we do really well is we talk about where we want to be at the end of it all. But we understand that while talking about it, we still have to be present. We do a really good job at taint a day at a time.” pic.twitter.com/X62zB1Nlfp
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
Isaiah Joe on the importance of homecourt advantage: “It's a huge deal, especially whenever you get series where you may go 7. Obviously, it’s good to start at home every single time as well. You may also close out at home.” pic.twitter.com/wESJwV1iiY
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
Isaiah Joe on the Spurs being right behind them in the standings all season long: “We understand that we just wanted to be the No. 1 team — no matter what they accomplished, the games they won. We just understood that we took care of what we had to do.” pic.twitter.com/vhssnn3oYJ
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
Isaiah Joe on how Mark Daigneault helped him: “When I first got here and started getting, acclimated into the system, he taught me a new way to find shots. I've always been an aggressive shooter, but I never would have thought that one of my bread and butter will be slide outs.” pic.twitter.com/ziwRgozc4y
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
Mark Daigneault on Jalen Williams heading into the playoffs: “He’s doing a great job… Being an NBA player is not all ease. It’s a very trying thing. It’s a very difficult life to perform well in the NBA. It’s the best players in the world.” pic.twitter.com/thnFobrkqV
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
Mark Daigneault on preparing for play-in week: “We’ve got eyes on every series, every game and every opponent. We're doing all the legwork on all that continuously, just responsible planning to work it that way. But in terms of what we actually bring to the team, very little. We… pic.twitter.com/u7PJwOfKM6
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
Mark Daigneault: “Last year's championship was great. We earned it. No one can ever take it from us, and we'll have the rest of our lives to be the 2025, champions. But it's also over and completely mutually exclusive for this year's playoffs.” pic.twitter.com/LnPYKObE26
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
Mark Daigneault: “A lot of our guys are different. Chet Holmgren is a completely different player and brings different things to the team. The addition of Ajay to the primary rotation player, the addition of McCain. More prevalently, is the improvement of the returning players.” pic.twitter.com/9XzjYTRFHM
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
Mark Daigneault on Jared McCain’s playoff debut: “He’s not on his own curriculum. He's on the team. He's hearing the same messages that everybody's hearing. We assume the guys are ready to go. We don't assume they're not ready to go. I'm assuming he's ready for the physicality.” pic.twitter.com/5VNG2hxigS
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
Mark Daigneault on Jaylin Williams: “He's just a badass competitor that's always ready to play. You need those kinda guys. There's a difference between everyday confidence that you have and playoff confidence. He's got playoff confidence.” pic.twitter.com/Bd00xVOOQX
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
Mark Daigneault on Chet Holmgren: “We’re gonna get a better version of him in this year's playoffs than we've had in previous playoff runs. I also don't think this year will be his best year of basketball in his career. I think he actually has a lot of runway still.” pic.twitter.com/f6EERTX6lI
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 14, 2026
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Recap: What happened at OKC Thunder's Tuesday, Apr. 14 practice
Mark Daigneault discussed the logistics involved in preparing for the four teams competing in the play-in tournament.
Jalen Williams expressed optimism about his readiness for the playoffs after being limited by injuries during the regular season.
Isaiah Joe shared his confidence and hopes for a strong performance in the upcoming playoff series.
The Oklahoma City Thunder is set to begin their Round 1 playoff series on Sunday following the conclusion of the play-in tournament.
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