The Thunder's Season Just Got Nuked Five Games In

The Oklahoma City Thunder just pulled off the most depressing hat trick in modern basketball. According to Underdog NBA, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, and Cason Wallace have all suffered long-term injuries exactly five games into the season.

Losing one starter is a speed bump, but losing three core rotation guys before the Halloween candy goes on clearance is the kind of disaster that makes you want to simulate to the end of the season. Holmgren is out eight to ten weeks with a knee issue. Williams and Wallace are dealing with leg and shoulder injuries, respectively, and will not even be re-evaluated until near the end of the regular season.

"Underdog NBA reported the devastating injury timeline for all three players."

Holmgren was already putting up 14 points and seven rebounds a night to start the year. Now he is back in street clothes, which is a brutal flashback for a guy who missed his entire rookie campaign with a foot injury.

The Thunder were just rolling along, picking up early wins against the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns before dropping a game to the Dallas Mavericks. Now they have to figure out how to field a competitive basketball team without their defensive anchor, their secondary scoring engine, and their best perimeter pest.

If you were holding a futures ticket on Oklahoma City to win the West, you might want to fold it into a paper airplane. The betting markets are going to aggressively overcorrect, because the roster taking the floor for the foreseeable future is missing a massive chunk of its salary cap and production.

The immediate nightmare starts in their next matchup against the Houston Rockets. Oklahoma City has to completely rewrite their playbook overnight, and fans are left staring at an injury report that reads like a horror novel.