On Sunday night, OKC star Jalen Williams suffered what looks like to be a season-ending leg injury. How does that affect him and the Thunder’s title hopes?
A reminder: This is my subjective list based largely on objective data. This is not a pure, analytical ranking. You’re here because you want to know what I think, to get inside my brain a little bit. Consider this a weekly report of what I see on film; what I glean from the numbers; what I hear on the phone; what I read in the news; what I feel..
A reminder that teams are listed within each tier in alphabetical order, not in order of strength. Here’s a quick rundown of each tier:
Tom’s Title Tiers
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is a complete team, no notes.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Just missing that one thing.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ One move away from being one move away.
⭐️⭐️ So much has to break right.
⭐️ Sooo you’re saying there’s a chance.
This week’s featured squad: the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Let’s get to it.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is a complete team, no notes.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Last week’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Record: 3-0 | 114.6 aORtg (5th), 105.6 aDRtg (1st), aNet +9.1 (1st)
Late Sunday night, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander walked over to console his teammate Jalen Williams whose foot was pointing the wrong way after a horrific fall. After a while, the MVP couldn’t help but wander around the court, buring his face into his jersey as the emotions came.
Williams was stretchered off the court while “J-Dub” chants filled OKC’s arena. And then the game went on. The Thunder closed the door on the LA Clippers to win by seven.
That’s the harsh reality of sports. It seems almost inhumane to play after witnessing something like that. I’m reminded of Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin going into cardiac arrest on the football field and the game resuming a few minutes later. Your teammate’s heart just stopped and you’re going to keeping playing? And they did.
Sports can provide provide a mirror to our lives. In the wake of tragedy or trauma, it simply goes on. It has to.
After the game, a solemn Thunder coach Mark Daigneault emphasized empathy and offered support to his All-NBA player. The plan was for the team to come together and regroup in the morning. And he also said this:
“Obviously the schedule is going to keep going,” Daigneault. “And we’ll keep going with it.”
OKC’s resident vet Alex Caruso shared a similar sentiment. He felt horrible for Williams, and knew that his family would help him get through such a catastrophic injury. And then shared some tough love: “At a certain point, you can’t be a victim anymore, and you have to take the adversity head on and kind of fight back.”
In his postgame walkoff interview with Nick Gallo, SGA wiped tears away as he spoke. How will the team go on? “We don’t have no choice. This is what we signed up for. It’s obviously going to be tough without a player like that. But he’s not gone forever. He’ll be back better than ever and we know it.”
There’s that harsh reality again. This is what we signed up for.
And so the Thunder move onto the next game, the next city, the next challenge that will inevitably come their way, and they will keep going with it.
There aren’t many comps for this circumstance, but 2017-18 Gordon Hayward comes to mind. Five minutes into his Boston Celtics tenure, the All-Star suffered a similar gruesome injury on national television. We all felt like we were watching a basketball funeral. Years later, Hayward returned to being a fringe All-Star candidate in Charlotte, but it’s safe to say his career was derailed, but not ended, by that injury.
Just like Sunday night, after Hayward’s injury, the Celtics kept going. The new-look team responded with incredible resiliency that seemed almost unfathomable at the time. They regrouped, won 55 games and came within seconds of reaching the NBA Finals that season. LeBron James and the Cavs took Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, barely squeaking by the sans-Hayward Celtics.
The Thunder can do similar, if not better. Here are three reasons why I’m keeping OKC at the top slot.
