There’s shorthanded, and then there is whatever happened to the Oklahoma City Thunder heading into Wednesday night’s showdown between the top two teams in the Western Conference.
According to the team’s official injury report, OKC will face the Spurs with eight rotation players sidelined.
The list of Thunder players expected in street clothes could win an NBA championship, and in fact did last summer: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (abdomen), Chet Holmgren (back), Jalen Williams (hamstring), Lu Dort (knee), Alex Carruso (groin), Isaiah Hartenstein (eye) and Ajay Mitchell (abdomen) have all been ruled out of Wednesday’s grudge match at the Frost Bank Center.
That leaves guard Isaiah Joe as OKC’s leading available scorer. Joe averages 9.9 points per game.
The Spurs’ injury report is less significant. Jeremy Sochan (quad), Lindy Waters III (knee) and David Jones Garcia (ankle) are out, with Stephon Castle (groin) listed as questionable.
The Spurs won the first three meetings of the season during a 12-day stretch of December, including a victory in the NBA Cup semifinals in Las Vegas. The Thunder answered back with a 119-98 triumph in OKC in January.
Wednesday is the fifth and final matchup of the regular season between the Spurs and Thunder.
