Media Availability | OKC Thunder vs Orlando Magic | Las Vegas Summer League | July 15, 2025

Media Availability | OKC Thunder vs Orlando Magic | Las Vegas Summer League | July 15, 2025

Go ahead, coach. 3 and 0. I mean, you know, momentum is really starting to carry over. Are you possibly thinking about what a potential playoff game could look like? Are you just taking it game by game? You know, what’s that kind of mindset looking like in the locker room? I think we’re definitely taking it game by game and we’re trying to reframe this whole experience as something for our guys to get better at. I think it’s great that we’re being competitive. We’re playing hard. We’re going to have opportunities to do it again tomorrow. And so I think we’re trying not to look at the big picture of the goal is not just to win the summer league. The goal is to be a better team by the time we leave. And so I think it’s good that there’s some excitement. The guys are excited, but we have to keep that kind of in big picture in mind. Carlson, 23 points in 19 minutes. I mean, that’s as efficient as efficient gets. You know, what you like from him? Um, you know, how much further is he just taking his game? I thought that I mean to come back from being out for a couple weeks and really just plug himself back in and play pretty naturally with the rest of the group was a testament to him for sure. The way he was able to stay ready the way that the work he had put in the last couple weeks. I also think it’s a testament to that team that like this summer league team kind of guys come from all over. It’s it’s hard to have a cohesive group and yet there’s some unself natural unselfishness in the group from our players. I think AJ and Tae kind of set the tone with that. They move the ball. Someone’s open ahead. a pass and that makes it easier for a fiveman like Carlson and I kind of come in and find his rhythm. I think the defense has been we we’ve improved as we’ve gotten going from Utah to here and that’s important and part of the whole thing is getting better. I would say that there’s a toughness of when they cross half court. We want to be physical. Um, we want them to feel ball pressure kind of the same way that the Thunder played during the year. We’re trying to do that as much as we can and it seems like there’s been some progress and kind of from where we were in Utah to the physicality we’re showing now. Coach, how much are the fans really driving this energy behind the team, you know, as summer league, you know, continues throughout the week, you know, arena gets a little less and less, you know, gets a little less and less packed. So just how are you, you know, feeding off of that crowd energy and how is that kind of just resulting into wins? I think that in general we want to be we want to create our own energy and kind of like not let what’s going on outside really affect us and I think that’s kind of everyone’s got to compete every possession and that’s important regardless of there’s a million people in the gym and there’s nobody in the gym and so summer league is an interesting experience for these guys you know like a lot of people come to watch at different points but we like to tell our guys that like we’re playing for each other that’s the most important part and we we the outside noise really shouldn’t be getting in Ready? Yeah. Yep. How’d you feel in your comeback tonight? Come back and uh play again. How you feel? It felt great. You know, I’ve been missing being out on the court, so it was good to be out there and, you know, to play some games again. Team defense, big emphasis as always, but tonight as well, it was a great great showing. What did you think from your defense tonight? Uh, I thought it was good. Um, I think that’s always been a huge key part for us is just to play, you know, physical defense, and I think, you know, we continue to do that today. Um, on the other side of the ball, how do you feel like you played tonight? Do you feel like it was uh same flow as always? Yeah, I felt like I just went out there to play my game. Um I think uh you know I’ve been with some of these guys around so kind of know how to play with each other. Um so it kind of just felt really uh easy to just get right back into the groove. Just talk about the atmosphere here in Las Vegas and what it’s been like for you. I mean it’s been hot. Um but it’s it’s been good. You know, I just been doing a lot of rehab and just hanging out with the guys and getting to know a lot of these guys who have joined us this summer. So, it’s been it’s been fun to be out here and just uh you know, watch a lot of basketball.

Hear from Coach Connor Johnson and Branden Carlson following the Thunder’s 92-75 win over the Orlando Magic in the third game of the 2025 Las Vegas Summer League.

0:00 Coach Connor Johnson
2:33 Branden Carlson

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