The Oklahoma City Thunder are already reeling from injuries.
Jalen Williams left Sunday night’s win over the Clippers with a gruesome left leg injury and is going to be out for a long time. Cason Wallace also looks primed to miss time with an injury sustained Sunday, too.
The Thunder didn’t need more bad news, but they got it on Monday: Chet Holmgren is out for their matchup with the Phoenix Suns.
It was tough enough for OKC to have this back-to-back on the schedule to begin with once the injuries took place, but it’s even worse without Holmgren to soak up some minutes.
Why Isn’t Chet Holmgren Playing Tonight?
Holmgren isn’t playing on Monday night due to injury.
The official NBA injury report lists Holmgren as having right patellar tendinitis.
That’s a knee issue, but not necessarily one that he would’ve sustained on an individual play.
You picture tendinitis as being a nagging issue, but if that’s true, it wasn’t nagging enough to have Holmgren listed on the Thunder’s pregame Sunday injury report in any fashion. So maybe he did make something worse on Sunday night, too.
Regardless of when it happened, it’s a concern. Holmgren’s lanky body type worried some folks coming out of college simply because the NBA is a strong, physical, athletic league — and Holmgren has some long, skinny limbs.
A knee issue, especially for a player as tall as Holmgren, particularly something nagging like tendinitis — that’s not what anyone wants to see.
There’s no immediate sense for how long Holmgren will be out, but it’s just one more thing for Thunder fans to worry about.
Holmgren was averaging 12.0 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game through three games. The Thunder will have to get on without him for at least one night and maybe longer.
Chet Holmgren Replacements
The one bit of good news for the Thunder is that Jaylin Williams — the other one — isn’t on the injury report.
He left Sunday’s game with an apparent hand injury and didn’t report, but evidently he’s been deemed good to go.
In addition to Isaiah Hartenstein’s usual start at center, it would make sense for Jay-Will to see plenty of minutes in this one. Kenrich Williams, no relation, is also a candidate for increased time off the bench in the frontcourt.
Jaylin Williams is particularly intriguing because he often puts up good numbers when he’s able to play extended minutes.
Why Isn’t Chet Holmgren Playing Tonight? Thunder Injury News Adds to Jalen Williams