Tonight, the Oklahoma City Thunder are set to take on the Utah Jazz, hoping to move to an NBA-best 16-1.
So far, OKC has suffered only one loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, beating 15 others teams in the early part of the season, most by double-digits.
The Thunder’s start — which has the team three full games ahead of the next-best West team in the Denver Nuggets — is trumped only by Warriors’ 24-0 start. With Oklahoma City having won 68 games last season, and now seeing its best-ever start in franchise history, several pundits have brought up the prospect of a 70-plus win season for the defending champions.
While the outside noise is growing — especially given that Jalen Williams hasn’t played just yet — the Thunder are remaining internally focused. They consider themselves a better team than last season, but often talk of the still-needed growth as they churn out wins across the 2025-26 regular season.
The Thunder’s injury report continues to play a factor as it has all season long. Here are the injury reports for both the Thunder and Jazz ahead of tonight’s game:
OKC Thunder injuries:
Branden Carlson — Available: Nasal fracture
Thomas Sorber — Out: Right ACL
Nikola Topic — Out: N/A
Aaron Wiggins — Out: Left adductor
Jalen Williams — Out: Right wrist
Kenrich Williams — Out: Left knee
Utah Jazz injuries:
Kyle Filipowski — Questionable: Right wrist
Walker Kessler — Out: Left shoulder
Georges Niang — Out: Left foot
John Tonje — Out: G League
Oscar Tshiebwe — Out: G League
Oklahoma City’s injury report continues to be lengthy, with All-NBA forward Jalen Williams yet to make his season debut. He’s now past the re-evaluation window for his follow-up procedure, so there should be more information in the coming weeks.
In addition to Williams are the team’s two rookies, as well as rotational players in Aaron Wiggins and Kenrich Williams. Branden Carlson is listed as available with a nasal fracture, and will be needed for spot minutes as he has been all season long.
The Jazz received bad news weeks ago in the form of Walker Kessler’s season-ending injury. The center was off to his best start even, averaging 14.4 points on 70% shoo-in with 10.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game.
Georges Niang is also listed as out, though second-year forward Kyle Filipowski is listed as questionable to play tonight.
The Thunder and Jazz tip off at 9 p.m. CT.
