The Oklahoma City Thunder have been the best team in the NBA this season, and it looks like they've gotten better from last season when they won the NBA championship. They will be facing the Utah Jazz next, but their star player will be out, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is dealing with an elbow injury.
This doesn't seem like a serious injury for Gilgeous-Alexander, and there's a good chance that he will probably return for the Thunder's next game. Gilgeous-Alexander has been relatively healthy for most of his career, which has been a key to his success, and it's leading him in MVP talks this season already, as he's averaging 32.8 points, 6.4 assists, and 4.7 rebounds.
The way that the Thunder have been playing this season, they may not need Gilgeous-Alexander to win this game. Their depth has been amazing this season, and almost everybody who is active on the roster has made some kind of impact on the games.
At the same time, Gilgeous-Alexander is not the only player out due to injury, as Alex Caruso, Lu Dort, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Isaiah Joe have been ruled out for the game. That means that Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren will be key for the Thunder in this game.
Williams just returned from his wrist injury, and he shared that he is not fully healed yet.
“My wrist being healthy is going to be an ongoing thing. It's not like this surgery was a boom — you're healthy,” Williams said. “A lot of it is trying to get my rhythm back [by] getting to the free-throw line, getting a couple of easy layups, trying to get the mentality down of driving, and playing with force. When I haven't played for so long, that's usually the hardest part to get back into. So, the more I can attack that, everything else will fall into place.”
