OKLAHOMA CITY — As head coach Mark Daigneault and the Oklahoma City Thunder gear up for their preseason opener against the New Orleans Pelicans, nearly half the roster will be unavailable. Thunder's 12th overall pick Aday Mara will be available along with fellow rookies Bennett Stirtz and Otega Oweh, as will third-year guards Ajay Mitchell and Jared McCain.

However, Thunder stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Jalen Williams will all have the night off, as Daigneault announced ahead of Oklahoma City's first preseason game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday.

“The whole team will travel, but Shai, Dub [Jalen Williams], Heart [Isaiah Hartenstein], Chet, [Alex] Caruso, and Cason [Wallace] will not play tomorrow,” Daigneault said. “That's just because of the way that camp fell. We had a really high-intensity day yesterday. We're obviously on a back-to-back. So, they'll play the next night.

But tomorrow's an important day because we're going to get a good look at Ajay [Mitchell] and Jared [McCain], Kenrich [Williams], and also our first look of in-game action with those other rookie players and two-ways, Exhibit-10; those guys. Brooks has obviously played before; he'll play tomorrow. But that's a critical evaluation point for us cause it gives us a good indicator of where these guys are after a week of camp. So, all of those guys are going to get on the court tomorrow.”

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Thunder rookie Thomas Sorber, coming off a redshirt season, will also not be available, and neither will Nikola Topic. As for draftees Mara, Stirtz, and Oweh, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault's excited to see them get their first NBA experience in Tuesday's preseason opener.

“It's more of a commentary on not overreacting to summer league because summer league is an important data point, but it's also wildly out of context,” Daigneault added. “It's right after the draft. They've been on site for less than a week. They're exhausted from the draft process. And then, the game context is totally different. There's 10 fouls, there's four 10-minute quarters; it couldn't be more different from this time. So, you definitely get a better sense.”

Thunder veteran Kenrich Williams sang Mara's praises amid training camp last week, calling the first-round pick a future All-Defensive prospect ahead of the 7-foot-3 center's NBA debut.