Sam Presti refused to sugarcoat the impact of the losses.
This past summer when the skyrocketing cost of the Thunder roster led to the trading of Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe, the Oklahoma City general manager was blunt.
“Losing three tremendous players and professionals is not easy,” Presti told our Justin Martinez, “and our margin for error will be smaller than it has been for some time.”
That margin for error shrunk to almost nothing Sunday night.
As Jalen Williams lay on the Paycom Center hardwood, his foot twisting at an unnatural angle, his face contorting and his teammates crying, all thoughts were on the Thunder wing. He’d already played through so many injuries. He’d already overcome so much.
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But as the shock wore off, reality began to set in. On a night that fellow starter Cason Wallace also left the game with an injury — his left shoulder appeared to pop out of the socket — the Thunder must move on shorthanded. Definitely in the short term. Probably for the long term.
What now?
For the past few seasons, the answer to the question following a major injury was easier. Not easy. Injuries never are. But the Thunder’s depth gave them so many options. It had a dozen or more players who could play substantial minutes. Maybe not at an All-Star level. Maybe not even at a starter level. But definitely at a level that kept the Thunder extremely competitive.
Just look at all the games the Thunder lost to injury a year ago, for instance, and it still had the best regular-season record in the NBA.
For all that this franchise has had going for it the past few years — a young and talented core headlined by the league’s back-to-back MVP and highlighted by a defense that causes nightmares — OKC’s depth was its greatest superpower. No other team had anything like it, and it allowed the Thunder to reach unprecedented heights.
Winning a championship despite the youth. Posting the league’s best record for two consecutive seasons despite injuries to core players. Having net ratings that put the Thunder in line with some of the most historically great teams in NBA lore.
But Sunday night laid bare the fact that the Thunder’s depth isn’t what it used to be.
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Oh, Presti managed to keep around nine of the top 10 rotational players from last year’s playoffs — Wiggins and Joe fell out of that group in the postseason — so no one in the league is crying for the Thunder. But look at the top dozen players on this season’s roster, and the tail end of that group is largely unproven. Veteran Kenrich Williams notwithstanding, you’re talking about Aday Mara, Bennett Stirtz, Brooks Barnhizer, Nikola Topic and Thomas Sorber.
Not saying those are bad players, but they are extremely unproven.
Injuries have kept Sorber from making his NBA debut and Topic from making his season debut. Barnhizer has played only garbage minutes. And Mara and Stirtz have NBA careers that are a week old.
Combined, those five will enter Tuesday night’s game against Phoenix having logged 563 career minutes in the NBA.
Last season alone, Wiggins played 1,414 minutes and Joe played 1,507.
Bottom line: The Thunder’s depth just isn’t what it used to be.
Now, the injury to Williams is going to force the Thunder to spread around some minutes. No single player, after all, is going to fill his shoes. As good as Ajay Mitchell and Jared McCain and even Alex Caruso are, none of them are going to take all of J-Dub’s minutes. They’ll each get some, and that means some of their minutes will be spread between the reserves behind them.
Who knows what this could mean for the development of Mara and Stirtz and others?
Maybe one day, they’ll have us forgetting Wiggins and Joe. But to think that the current Thunder youngins are there already would be underselling how good Wiggins and Joe were.
Those guys didn’t just eat minutes; they produced.
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Maybe one day, the Thunder will have that kind of depth again, where the stockpile of talent is far and away this team’s greatest superpower.
But that isn’t today.
When Presti talked about the margin for error being smaller, what he meant is that the team wouldn’t be able to sustain injuries without the impact being felt. In one fateful night, this team took a gut punch.
If it had taken that roundhouse these past few years, it would’ve gotten back to its feet and been ready to fight again. It would’ve tapped into its depth and leaned into its superpower.
Now?
That depth is diminished.
The Thunder is mortal.
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at @jennicarlsonok.bsky.social and twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Sam Presti, OKC Thunder depth will be tested by Jalen Williams' injury | Carlson