Thunder weigh trade options after injuries to Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace

One night, two starters

Oklahoma City's season changed in a single evening. Jalen Williams suffered a fractured left fibula and a dislocated ankle, and Cason Wallace suffered a labrum tear, in the same game on Sunday. ESPN reported that the Thunder are not ruling either player out for the season, but both face lengthy recoveries.

ESPN's story carried an editor's note that Chet Holmgren would be out 8-10 weeks after treatment for a small patellar tendon tear. The team announced the same timeline on Friday night, and ESPN reported that the tear is in his right knee.

Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon, who have covered the NBA for more than 40 years between them, wrote that they had never seen a championship-level team potentially lose two valuable players in one evening in the first week of the season. The injuries set off discussion in rival front offices about what Oklahoma City does next.

The third starter

Holmgren is the third Thunder starter ruled out for an extended period this week. The team said he met specialists after feeling mild discomfort in his right knee on Sunday, the same day Williams and Wallace were injured against the Clippers, and decided on a biological treatment on Friday for what its release called a small tear.

It is the third significant injury of Holmgren's career since Oklahoma City drafted him second overall in 2022. He missed the 2022-23 season with a broken foot and part of 2024-25 with a fractured pelvis, then returned to play a key role in the championship run. Last season he was first-team All-Defensive and third-team All-NBA, averaging 17.1 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks.

The Thunder also said Wallace had surgery on Friday and Williams had surgery on Wednesday, and that both will be reevaluated before the end of the regular season. That wording leaves open a return this season without setting a date.

The $500 million number

The Thunder's payroll is projected to surpass $500 million, including luxury taxes, for the 2027-28 season. That figure already includes Ajay Mitchell playing on a $2.8 million team option next season, and it could reach $600 million if no players are offloaded.

The bill comes due as two extensions begin. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's supermax extension and Wallace's five-year, $139 million extension both start next season. Jared McCain is in line to discuss an extension next summer.

"They are eventually going to have to reduce their payroll, and they could look to do something that adds to the roster now and gets off longer-term money," one Eastern Conference executive told ESPN. The same executive said the injuries give the team time to look for opportunities.

Why the Thunder may wait

The comparison several people around the league raised was 2014-15, when Kevin Durant had three foot surgeries and played 27 games while Russell Westbrook missed 15. There were calls for reactionary trades then. The Thunder stayed put, won 45 games, missed the playoffs by one game, then won 55 the next season and beat a 67-win San Antonio Spurs team in the playoffs.

The people generally running the team are the same. "Are you really going to mortgage two or three years to try to salvage one year?" one Western Conference scout told ESPN. "Just be patient."

Sam Presti has also shown he will wait for the right structure. At the 2024 trade deadline he took on Gordon Hayward's salary in a deal that created the flexibility to sign Isaiah Hartenstein that summer. The Hayward stint did not work; the flexibility did.

The calendar gives Oklahoma City room. The trade market does not really open until Dec. 15, when most players who signed new contracts become eligible to be moved, and the Thunder have until the February 2028 deadline to finalize spending for 2027-28.

The targets and their price

If Presti does shop, executives pointed to New Orleans as a partner for Herb Jones or Trey Murphy III. The basketball fit is obvious after Oklahoma City lost two All-Defensive wings, months after sending Luguentz Dort to Atlanta in a cost-cutting move.

The money is harder. Murphy makes $27 million this season and is due $60 million over the next two years, which would require Oklahoma City to include a core player to match salaries. Jones makes $14.9 million this season before a three-year, $67.6 million extension begins, and one Western Conference executive called that "a negative value contract" for a team trying to trade for him.

Another name that came up was Sacramento's Nique Clifford, who has fallen out of the Kings' rotation after a promising rookie season. The Kings are telling people they value Clifford and do not feel compelled to trade him.

The first tell comes Monday

The clearest signal may arrive before any trade. Monday is the deadline to pick up the contract options for Thomas Sorber, who is out after a second knee surgery in the last year, and Nikola Topic, who is recovering from offseason back surgery. The two would make a combined $12.5 million next year if the options are picked up.

"The first tell is going to be what they do with these options," one Eastern Conference executive said. "If they pass on them, it's potentially $100 million in savings next year" including luxury taxes.

There is new money coming too. The Thunder could receive a one-time expansion payout that may exceed $500 million per team, and they are building a new taxpayer-funded arena that will unlock revenue in the medium term. That does not erase the payroll problem, but it makes the timing less urgent than the $500 million figure suggests.

The league's national viewing guide lists where Oklahoma City's games appear this season, and our report on the Thunder's opening night covers the team before the injuries. The NBA Cup explainer sets out the group-stage dates that follow.