Billy Donovan gives the Thunder all-bench lineup a go

Earlier this season, it seemed as though Billy Donovan was trying to decide whether it was better to run Carmelo Anthony or Paul George along with the bench lineup. He tried both for extended stretches, but as of late, it seems like neither may be his final decision.

Over the last week or so, OKC has run with the lineup of Raymond Felton, Patrick Patterson, Alex Abrines, Josh Huestis, and Jerami Grant. No starters, just subs.

Anthony has benefited from playing alongside Russell Westbrook, while inserting George into the secondary unit takes away from his minutes with the starters, which isn’t ideal. Donovan also said that being taken in and out like that can be difficult.

“Sometimes when you play him six minutes and you get him off, six minutes, you get him off, a lot of times it’s hard, I think, for him.”

Ideally, Donovan can have this all-sub lineup finish the first quarter and open the second. This will allow some rest of the starters and ultimately help their legs down the stretch.

Raymond Felton seems to be thriving with this new lineup, as he’s used his aggressiveness to create some good looks for him and his teammates.

NewsOK’s Brett Dawson has the full story on Donovan’s sub-related decisions here.