What: Charlotte Hornets (4-0) vs Oklahoma City Thunder (4-0)

When: 6:00pm Eastern

Where: Thomas & Mack Center; Las Vegas, NV

How to watch: ESPN

The Summer League Hornets are trying to do something unheard of for Charlotte sports–play in a championship game. They’ve won all four of their games and have improved game over game over the course of the Las Vegas Summer League. A commanding 25 point win over the Spurs gave the Hornets the third best record and point differential and earned them this place. They’ll face a Thunder team that already has a real championship this year and needs to chill out.

Even with this being a semifinal game, we typically see the NBA players get shut down. Kon Knueppel played very well in the last game after a rocky start, which makes it more likely that the organization has seen what they want out of him and will pull him for any remaining games. Same goes for KJ Simpson.

Ajay Mitchell, who plays on a two-way contract for the Thunder, has been their best player this summer, but he sat out last game and might be done for the summer. People forget that the Thunder drafted a player in the lottery last summer that hasn’t even played for them. Nikola Topic has had some nice games as well, but he also sat out their last round robin game and might not return.

If we want, we can go the “Thunder haven’t played anybody” route. Of their four opponents, only one was not terrible. They beat the 3-2 Pacers 104-85. Their other games were against the 0-5 Magic, 0-5 Pelicans, and 1-4 Nets (and the Nets only win was against the Magic).

The Hornets have looked like a legitimately good team relative to the competition, even when they’re not playing their draft picks and returning players. It’s a chance for Damion Baugh, Jaylen Sims, and PJ Hall to show out.