Scheduled
2026-27 · Regular season
Interactive: Thunder 4-0 with half the rotation hurt — two surgeries, a sprained ankle and Ajay Mitchell’s 30, step by step
Scroll through Oklahoma City's third straight 4-0 start: the night Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace went down, Monday's diagnoses, Chet Holmgren and Alex Caruso joining the injury list, Ajay Mitchell's climb to a career-high 30 and the road trip to Dallas, Houston and Cleveland.
In this article
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at the free-throw line in Memphis in March 2025. Photo by Young Ru Finch, resized.WhyNBA Interactive
Thunder 4-0 with half the rotation hurt: two surgeries, a sprained ankle and Ajay Mitchell's 30
Oklahoma City has opened a third straight season 4-0, the first team to do it since at least 2000-01. It got the fourth win without Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace or Chet Holmgren, and lost Alex Caruso in the second quarter. Scroll through how the Thunder are still unbeaten, game by game.
Chapter 1
Four games, four wins
The Thunder opened in San Antonio with a 116-104 win, then beat Denver 96-84, the Clippers 108-101 and Phoenix 125-114 at home. Every win has come by at least seven points.
The defense has carried it. Oklahoma City has allowed 100.8 points a game, about 98.1 per 100 possessions, the third-best mark in the league after four games. The offense ranks 16th.
0-0record, first in the Northwest
+0point differential in four games
0points allowed per game
0Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's scoring average
Winning margin, game by game
Thunder vs. Heat at Paycom Center, March 2024. Photo by HutchDoesStuff, resized.Chapter 2
Sunday night against the Clippers
Cason Wallace left the Clippers game after six minutes with a left shoulder injury. Later in the night, Jalen Williams fell hard, his left ankle bending the wrong way, and he was taken off the court on a stretcher while the crowd chanted “J-Dub.” He answered with two thumbs up.
The Thunder still won 108-101. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 and Alex Caruso had 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists off the bench.
“I just feel bad for him. 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. We've just got to hold the fort down until he comes back.”— Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Jalen Williams
“Those are tough, man. We're not doing great.”— Thunder coach Mark Daigneault
Cason Wallace warms up with Kentucky, March 1, 2023. Photo by Brady Saylor, CC-BY-SA-4.0, cropped and resized.Chapter 3
Monday: the diagnosis, and one more
- Wallace exits after six minutes; Williams is stretchered off. Thunder win 108-101.
- Sam Presti says Williams fractured his left fibula and dislocated his left ankle, and Wallace tore the labrum in his left shoulder. Both need surgery and are out indefinitely.
- Chet Holmgren sits against Phoenix with right patellar tendinitis.
- Caruso sprains his right ankle contesting a Dillon Brooks drive and does not return. He had nine points in nine minutes.
- Thunder 125, Suns 114. Oklahoma City is 4-0.
Minutes per game this season of the four players hurt
Add those up and about 97 of a team’s 240 minutes a night belonged to players who were hurt by the end of Monday’s game.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drives for the Thunder at Washington, January 2022. Photo by All-Pro Reels, CC-BY-SA-2.0, resized.Chapter 4
What Jalen Williams takes with him
Williams made his first All-Star and All-NBA teams in 2024-25 and did not miss a playoff game in the 2025 title run, playing through a right wrist injury that later needed two procedures. He then had an injury-hit 2025-26.
Through the first two games of this season he was the Thunder’s second-leading scorer behind Gilgeous-Alexander.
0points a game in his 2024-25 All-NBA season
0rebounds a game in 2024-25
0assists a game in 2024-25
0points a game in three games this season
Jalen Williams' points this season
Jared McCain with Duke against Michigan State, Nov. 14, 2023. Photo by Brady Saylor, CC-BY-SA-4.0, cropped and resized.Chapter 5
Next man up: Ajay Mitchell
Mitchell came off the bench in the first three games and scored more each night. Making his first start of the season on Monday, he scored a career-high 30, with 13 in the first quarter.
Ajay Mitchell's points, game by game
0/16field goals against Phoenix
0/10free throws
0assists
+0plus-minus in 25 minutes
He had help. Jared McCain started and scored 18 with four threes, Isaiah Hartenstein had 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting with 13 rebounds, and rookie Aday Mara had 11 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. The Thunder made 25 of 29 free throws and outrebounded Phoenix 49-38.
Chapter 6
Two different starting fives
- Gilgeous-Alexander, Cason Wallace, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein
- Gilgeous-Alexander, Ajay Mitchell, Jared McCain, Kenrich Williams, Isaiah Hartenstein
Thunder scoring leaders after four games (total points)
Only Gilgeous-Alexander and Hartenstein started both games.
Aday Mara dunks for Michigan at Northwestern, Feb. 11, 2026. Photo by TonyTheTiger, cropped and resized.Chapter 7
The last two 4-0 starts, and what comes next
Final record after a 4-0 start
- at Dallas, 9:30 p.m. ET (4:30 a.m. Thursday Cairo time)
- at Houston, also 4-0, 8:30 p.m. ET (3:30 a.m. Sunday Cairo time)
- at Cleveland, 7 p.m. ET (3 a.m. Tuesday Cairo time)
The Thunder are the first team since at least 2000-01 to start three straight seasons 4-0. This one has a different look: two starters headed for surgery, Holmgren sidelined by tendinitis and no timeline yet on Caruso’s ankle.
A three-game road trip starts in Dallas on Wednesday, and Saturday’s game in Houston is between two of the league’s three unbeaten teams.
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