Oso Ighodaro won’t be available when the Phoenix Suns face the Oklahoma City Thunder, with the team officially moving him from doubtful to out on the injury report.
Ighodaro is dealing with a right oblique strain and will miss a second straight game after getting hurt in Phoenix’s season opener last week. The Suns said over the weekend they did not view the injury as serious or long-term, which is encouraging after the third-year center also had a hip issue during preseason.
Phoenix’s frontcourt options are thin for this one. Mark Williams, the team’s usual starting center, remains out following shoulder surgery, and two-way player Drew Timme is also unavailable. That leaves Khaman Maluach in line to start again, with Duop Reath backing him up in the Suns’ center rotation.
The Thunder have their own long list of absences. Chet Holmgren, Thomas Sorber, Nikola Topic, Cason Wallace and Jalen Williams are all out, with Holmgren sidelined by right patellar tendinitis, Sorber recovering from right knee surgery, Topic from low back surgery, Wallace dealing with left shoulder soreness and Jalen Williams out with a left lower leg injury.
Opening tip is scheduled for 5:00 pm MST.
Even with the roster issues, Phoenix has been leaning into how it wants to use its bigs. After the Suns’ win over the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, coach Ott talked about building more of the split game into the offense and using the five as a passing hub.
"Man-Man's ability to space the floor is there when he gets the opportunity and he feels good, he can let it go. But he has added a game to where we can pitch the ball to him and play, especially with how teams are pressuring," said Ott.
"In today's league you have to play through the five, similar to their split game. It's just another thing that we need to quickly add to our our group.
Man-Man's been on it for months, and I think you can see it. Like even the play with him and CG [Collin Gillespie] is similar to the play in Oso and CG.
So that's going to need to continue to be what we do with our fives, play through them, and then also space the floor because of our bigger wings and how we can screen, take advantage of some of our size just trying to get into the paint."
That plan gets a major test tonight, even with Oklahoma City shorthanded.
In Other News...
Thunder Head To Dallas With A Roster Problem Getting Worse
The Thunders injury sheet is starting to look more like a depth chart of absences than a game-night roster, and the timing could hardly be less convenient with a trip to Dallas next. Oklahoma City is already preparing to play without Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso, Nikola Topi and Thomas Sorber, while Ajay Mitchell is listed as questionable, leaving the rotation thin before the team even gets on the floor.
Holmgren is set to miss a second straight game after sitting out Monday against Phoenix, and the latest wave of injuries only adds to the uncertainty around how the Thunder will piece together lineups on the road. Dallas has its own long list of availability issues, which means the matchup is shaping up as one of those early-season games where the final box score may say as much about who was able to suit up as it does about anything else. [Read more 🡒]
Thunder Rallying Around Injuries Says Everything About This Team
The Thunders latest win came with the kind of postgame backdrop that tends to tell you plenty about a team, even before the numbers do. With Jalen Williams already sidelined, Isaiah Hartenstein took a moment after the game to acknowledge the absence of his injured teammate and describe the way Oklahoma City has tried to keep moving forward, one night at a time, while still carrying the weight of those missing pieces.
There is now another layer to manage, with GM Sam Presti announcing that Cason Wallace will miss significant time because of a left shoulder tear. Hartenstein also had a lighter moment in the mix, wearing Williams jersey and joking about the reaction he got from Wallace, a small bit of locker-room levity that said something about the groups mood even as the injury list keeps growing. [Read more 🡒]
Thunder Title Hopes Just Took An Early Hit
Early-season injury reports around the NBA are already piling up, and Oklahoma City has found itself at the center of that churn. Around 15 percent of players were listed with injuries or illnesses, with a long list of notable names expected to miss significant time, a reminder that title races can look a lot different before November even settles in. For a Thunder team built on depth, continuity and young legs, the league-wide attrition is more than background noise, it is part of the backdrop for what could shape the Western Conference race.
The concern for Oklahoma City is not just what those absences mean elsewhere, but how quickly the balance of power can shift when key contributors are unavailable. Other teams will have to survive without stars such as Jalen Williams, Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton, and every injury opens a lane for someone else to seize a larger role. For the Thunder, the challenge is staying steady while the rest of the league scrambles to adjust, because these early misses can test depth in a hurry and change the complexion of the title chase before it ever finds its stride. [Read more 🡒]