At the beginning of Oklahoma City's training camp, Billy Donovan wouldn't specify if either Patrick Patterson or Jerami Grant was going to start for the Thunder at power forward this season.

"I've always felt very strongly about Patrick as a player, Jerami as a player," Donovan said at Oklahoma City's Media Day. "I think those guys can help us. I think they both complement each other very well. But I don't necessarily think that looking at last year things that maybe we wanted to do with Patrick, you still have to look at there are some different players on our team this year, so what's best for the entire group. We'll have to see how that plays itself out. I'm not going to really talk about that because, one, I haven't had a chance to see certainly Dennis on the floor, and Timothe on the floor, Nader on the floor. There's different players out there, Nerlens. We'll have to see how all that works out. I think both Patrick and Jerami realize and understand that both those guys will be important to our team going forward this year."

Now that Oklahoma City's training camp is over, Donovan still hasn't announced if either Patterson or Grant will start at power forward. However at the Thunder's Blue and White Scrimmage on Saturday, Patterson looks to be the team's starting forward as he played on a team with Steven Adams and Paul George, who make up two-thirds of Oklahoma City's starting five. Russell Westbrook and Andre Roberson complete the team's starting five but they remain sidelined due to their respective injuries.

Despite Patterson playing with two starters in the scrimmage, Donovan afterwards downplayed the veteran big man's role.

“The starting piece of it, to me, is not that big of a deal,” Donovan said. “Both those guys are going to be important to us.”

But in what may be another sign that Donovan is actually leaning towards Patterson starting is the fact that he likes how Patterson already appears to be in peak game shape.

“I think the one thing I've noticed when he came back (this season) is he's done a terrific job with his body, he looks physically strong,” Donovan said. “I think he's gotten himself prepared for training camp just based on what happened last year.

“I didn't feel like ‘this guy's really struggling or laboring,' or ‘we've got to get him off the floor' at all.”