Cason Wallace begins match 1 for Thunder, taking the place of Isaiah Hartenstein

Oklahoma City (AP) – Cason Wallace received the call to start match 1 of the NBA final for Oklahoma City Thunder Thursday evening, taking the place of Isaiah Hartenstein.

The Thunder had used the same five starts – Shai Gilgeous -Alexander, Lu sleeps, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and Hartenstein – for each of the 16 games necessary to spend the qualifiers for the Western Conference.

At 21 and seven months old, Wallace is the youngest player to start an NBA final match since Tyler Herro in Miami – then about 20 years and 9 months – started for the warmth of their series inside the bubble against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020.

Wallace started 43 regular season games for the Thunder. He had participated in 26 playoffs during his first two NBA seasons with Oklahoma City, but the opening of Thursday’s series against the Indiana Pacers was his first start of the playoff series.

Wallace collected an average of 8.4 points in the regular season and has an average of 5.4 in the playoffs in the final.

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