The Oklahoma City Thunder takes on the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on Wednesday night in the 2020-21 season opener for both clubs.

The Thunder (0-0) are officially in rebuilding mode after having let multiple veteran pieces go this offseason. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who posted a career-best 19.0 points and 5.9 rebounds across 70 games last season, is now the principal building block for Oklahoma City, which finished last season with a 44-28 record and engaged in a memorable quarterfinal-round series with the Rockets that Houston emerged victorious from in seven games. Al Horford was a rather curious offseason acquisition considering his age, but he'll help offer some veteran stability down low as long as he's kept around. However, outside of Gilgeous-Alexander and Horford, OKC appears set to open the new season with the talented but inexperienced duo of Hamidou Diallo and Luguentz Dortz at the wing spots and 2019 first-round pick Darius Bazley at power forward.

The Thunder will be without Theo Maledon (personal), Trevor Ariza (personal), Darius Miller (Achilles) and Ty Jerome (ankle) for Wednesday's game.

The Rockets (0-0) are a story onto themselves, largely because of their star-studded backcourt. At point guard, John Wall, whose last regular-season game came nearly two years ago, is finally recovered from his Achilles injury and set to step in for Russell Westbrook, who was moved to Washington in exchange for him. Over at the two, James Harden's future is currently the hottest topic in the league. The eight-time All-Star is reportedly the subject of trade discussions with multiple teams as the season opens, but for the time being, he'll continue to toil on a Houston squad that also added emerging big man Christian Wood, whose career-best 2019-20 season in Detroit earned him a three-year, $41 million deal from the Rockets. Wood projects to split time at center with intriguing offseason signing DeMarcus Cousins, who's looking to return to prominence after injuries derailed much of his last two seasons.

The Rockets will be without Ben McLemore (personal) for Wednesday's contest.

The Thunder beat the Rockets in the 2019-20 regular-season series by a 2-1 margin, but Houston came back to notch the aforementioned quarterfinal-round win in the postseason.