This OKC Thunder squad is widely regarded and celebrated as one of the deepest rosters in the entire league. Unfortunately for them, the vast majority of this elite-level depth resides in the backcourt.
In fact, one could make the case that their frontcourt reserves are rather barren.
Wednesday's matchup against Detroit only highlighted such a sentiment.
Thunder reserves void of reliable emergency big men
Without primary starters Chet Holmgren (back) and Isaiah Hartenstein (calf) in the fold, coach Mark Daigneault was left with just one standard contract player measuring in above 6-foot-8 and ran out a starting lineup against the physically gifted Pistons with 6-foot-5 Aaron Wiggins at power forward and 6-foot-9 Jaylin Williams at center.
Needless to say, the 6-foot-10 ball of muscle Jalen Duren (29 points, 15 rebounds) ran roughshod over Oklahoma City's vertically challenged rotation. Frankly, the entire Pistons squad had a field day against this hobbled Thunder team, particularly in the interior, where they scored a whopping 70 of their 124 total points inside the painted area during their hard-fought victory.
Though some may write this bout off as a meaningless regular-season game against a team OKC won't have to worry about unless both managed to make it all the way to the NBA Finals, in reality, this out-of-conference matchup highlighted an ugly truth about the reigning champ's rotation -- their backup big man depth is far from reliable.
Without Holmgren and Hartenstein in the lineup this season, the Thunder have been outscored 204-178 inside the paint, with the last two instances involving their absence resulting in losses to legitimate title contenders in Detroit and San Antonio.
For the last several years, a lack of size down in the frontcourt has been viewed as a serious issue for Oklahoma City. While they may have been able to overcome such adversity last season en route to winning their first title of the Sooner State era, these problems did and currently still remain.
Now, with all their recent injury woes, it's only becoming more and more evident.
The sad part is, with the trade deadline now in the rearview and no real names of note on the buyout/free agency market, these issues are only bound to last through the remainder of the season and can only be fixed come the summer.
Unless Sam Presti believes red-shirted rookie Thomas Sorber to be the answer to this big man dilemma, come the offseason the Thunder must finally make it a priority to add more size to their talent pool.