Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

OKLAHOMA CITY – After taking a long and winding road to the NBA, Alex Reese made the most of his debut in The Association.

Reese scored the first basket of his NBA career in his debut for the Oklahoma City Thunder in their home game against the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday, Oct. 27 at the Paycom Center.

After entering the game with 1:53 remaining in the fourth quarter, Reese grabbed an offensive rebound on Alex Ducas’ 3-pointer and scored on the putback layup.

Once the game ended, his new Thunder teammates made sure to celebrate his achievement.

Oklahoma City’s All-Star forward Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tracked down the game ball and gave it to Reese.

In addition, guard Jalen Williams brought Reese along to the postgame press conference where he answered questions from the media about scoring in his debut, and he even joked that Ducas’ air ball was actually meant to go to him.

“It was a dream come true, honestly,” Reese said. “Never thought I would be here. Shoutout to Duke for the pass. That was a pass.”

The Thunder’s 123-104 victory over the Hawks was Reese’s third game of the season with the team, but he did not play in the first two games against the Denver Nuggets and Chicago Bulls.

He initially joined the Oklahoma City training camp on an Exhibit 10 contract on Sept. 27 before officially signing a full deal with undisclosed terms with the team on Oct. 19.

In three preseason appearances before officially signing, he averaged 2.3 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists across three preseason appearances in 8.7 minutes per game.

Reese was a two-time Shelby County Player of the Year for Pelham, sharing the award as a junior in 2015-16 before winning it outright as a senior in 2016-17. He averaged a double-double in each season, including 25.4 points, 10.9 rebounds and 2 blocks per game as a junior while playing for current Oak Mountain coach Joel Floyd.

He helped the Panthers reach the Sweet 16 as a junior and the Elite Eight during his senior season after the program had only reached the Sweet 16 one prior time as a program.

As a result, he was named the 6A Player of the Year and to the Alabama All-Star Team as a senior and was a two-time All-State First Team selection.

Reese went on to Alabama, where he played four seasons with the Crimson Tide. He worked his way into earning a regular starting spot as a junior in 2019-20, leading the team in blocks with 30 and was third in rebounding with 4.8 boards per game.

He made his biggest impact as a senior in 2020-21 when he hit the game-tying 3-pointer in the Sweet 16 against UCLA to send the game to overtime. During that season, he made nine starts and averaged 5.4 points and 3.1 rebounds per game in 33 games.

However, Reese’s journey to the pros took a different path after he went undrafted. He spent a year away from the game and returned home to work as a bartender before going overseas and playing in Luxembourg.

He got his shot in the NBA G-League with the Rip City Remix in the 2023-24 season. Playing for the Portland Trail Blazers affiliate, he averaged 13.2 points and 4.9 rebounds across 32 regular season games and shot 41.5 percent from behind the arc.

That season gave Reese a spot on the Trail Blazers’ Summer League team in July, where he made five appearances and averaged 7.6 points and 2.2 rebounds per game.

Reese’s next game with the Thunder is on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at home against the San Antonio Spurs. The game will tip off at 8:30 p.m. Central Time and will air on ESPN.