Happy Halloween, Dub Nation. I tried to think of something scarier to write about tonight than the Oklahoma City Thunder’s injury report and I came up empty. It looks terrifying; like the cast list of a slasher movie where everybody decided to split up in the woods with Jason Voorhees on the loose.
On Oct. 25 against the Clippers, Jalen Williams went up for a shot and came down with a fractured fibula and a dislocated ankle. In the same game, Cason Wallace tore the labrum in his left shoulder, one
week after he signed a $139 million extension. That same night, Chet Holmgren felt some mild knee discomfort that turned into a small patellar tendon tear and an eight-to-10-week absence. Alex Caruso rolled his ankle the next day, and the back end of the roster has its own pile of surgeries, but those three are the story. Of the five guys who started opening night, only Shai and Hartenstein are still upright.
OKC’s dynasty conversation took its first body shot back in May. They won 64 games, had home court, and still lost Game 7 to the Spurs, 111-103, in their own building. The back-to-back MVP called the whole season a failure the next day. In fairness this league has been allergic to dynasties for a while now. The Knicks beat the Spurs in five for the 2026 title, which makes eight straight seasons with eight different champions. The last team to repeat was your Golden State Warriors, 2017 and 2018.
Injuries can absolutely shift momentum in playoff trajectory. In 2019, Kevin Durant’s Achilles snapped in Game 5, Klay Thompson’s ACL went in Game 6 in the last game ever played at Oracle, and Toronto got a parade. The Raptors were good, Kawhi was a cyborg, and they earned every inch of that trophy. They also got to play the Finals against a team held together with tape and prayer.
That night at Oracle kicked off seven years of nobody holding the throne, and OKC’s own title came through the same door. In 2025 Tyrese Haliburton’s Achilles gave out in Game 7 of the Finals. OKC was the best team that year, and I’m not putting an asterisk on it. But the road got swept clean for them by the same cruel hands that are knocking on their door right now.
Look around the West right now. Anthony Edwards is out up to two months after an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee, and Jaren Jackson Jr. is headed for the sideline too. There’s a window opening for somebody in the West. That may be the Warriors who are anticipating the return of Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody in 2027.
