The Oklahoma City Thunder opened the season looking every bit like a heavyweight, but Draymond Green isn’t buying their title case anymore.
Green made it clear on his podcast that the recent injuries to Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace change the entire conversation. The Thunder may still rack up wins in the regular season, but in his view, their path to a championship has already been seriously damaged.
“For them to lose two starters in one night is absolutely insane,” said Green on his podcast. “So I think the answer to that would be we saw that last year with JDub missing most of the year.
They were still a really good team in the regular season, as you see; they just beat Phoenix a couple nights ago right after losing those guys. They’re a well-oiled machine.
So they’re still going to be one of the better teams in the NBA. However, when you get to the playoffs, at certain levels of the playoffs, that’s when things like this get exposed.
They’ll still be a really good team, but as far as competing for a championship, they’re not competing for a championship with their second-best player down and their best perimeter defender out.”
That’s a harsh read, but it comes from someone who has lived through the demands of winning at the highest level. Green has been part of one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history, and he knows the gap between being a strong regular-season team and a real playoff threat can be massive.
The Thunder have certainly looked the part so far. They’re 4-1 and have already taken down the Spurs, Nuggets, Clippers, and Suns. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has kept rolling too, averaging 26.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 45.9% from the field.
Still, the injury picture is what has Green sounding the alarm. Wallace, who is arguably their best perimeter defender, tore the labrum in his left shoulder. No firm timeline has been set yet, and that won’t come until after surgery, when the team will have a better sense of his recovery.
Williams’ situation is even tougher. He was limited to 33 games last season and now is expected to miss all but three games this year.
He suffered a fractured left fibula and a dislocated left ankle, both of which have already been repaired surgically. A late-season return is possible, but even that would leave him with very little time to get game-ready before the playoffs.
The Thunder still have enough talent to stay near the top of the standings. What Green is questioning is whether they’ll have enough left when the postseason exposes every weakness.
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Thunder Starting Five Suddenly Matters A Lot More In Dallas
The Thunders three-game road trip opens in Dallas with a much different feel now that the roster is thinned by injuries and the margin for error has shrunk. Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace are already out for the season, and Oklahoma City is also missing several other key players as it tries to navigate a difficult stretch that continues against Houston and Cleveland.
Mark Daigneault did not leave much mystery around who would be asked to carry the load, announcing the starting lineup shortly before tip-off as the Thunder settled in for a tougher-than-usual night. Ajay Mitchell adds one more piece of stability after being upgraded from questionable with an ankle sprain, but the bigger issue is how Oklahoma City holds up with so much of its usual rotation unavailable in a game that suddenly carries more weight. [Read more 🡒]
Shorthanded Thunder Face A Real Test Against Cooper Flagg's Mavericks
The Thunder head into Wednesday nights meeting with Dallas carrying more than the usual early-season intrigue, and more than a few injury concerns. Oklahoma City will tip off at 8:30 p.m. CT at American Airlines Center, with the game set for ESPN and KSBI OKC, but the storyline around the matchup is as much about who is missing as it is about the opponent on the floor.
Oklahoma City is still favored by 6.5 points, yet the availability report gives this one a different feel than a standard road test. Dallas also has its own uncertainty, and the matchup brings another layer of attention because of Cooper Flaggs Mavericks, with both sides trying to navigate the kind of early-season roster shuffling that can change the tenor of a game before it even starts. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Giddey Just Got Pulled Into An OKC Rumor Bulls Fans Notice
The injury wave hitting the early NBA season has already forced Oklahoma City to keep reworking its rotation, with Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace both sidelined. That has naturally led to some outside chatter about whether the Thunder might look around for help, and ESPNs Brian Windhorst floated a familiar idea: if Oklahoma City does make a move, it may be for someone it already knows.
That kind of speculation is what sent Bulls fans down the Josh Giddey rabbit hole, even if the fit is far from simple. Giddeys name will always draw attention in OKC circles, but his $25 million salary over the next two seasons makes any reunion look like a long shot, especially with contract math and roster fit both working against a quick return. [Read more 🡒]