Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drops truth bomb on Thunder after Chet Holmgren injury

The OKC Thunder dropped their second game of the 2024-25 NBA season Sunday night, losing to the Golden State Warriors by a final score of 127-116.

Despite the exciting comeback attempt Oklahoma City embarked on, one that saw them cut their deficit to as low as seven during the final three minutes after heading into the fourth down by 28, the contest proved to be far more deflating than encouraging, as one of the club's primary players sustained a rather serious injury on the night.

Mid-way through the first period of play, budding star big Chet Holmgren crashed down on his right hip after contesting Warriors wing Andrew Wiggins' driving layup. After a few moments of grimacing on the hardwood in pain, the 22-year-old was helped to the locker room and, from there, would soon be ruled out for the rest of the contest.

Based on his initial reactions, it was largely expected that the center would see an extended absence. Now, according to the team themselves, it's been determined that Holmgren will be out for eight to ten weeks as a result of what's been diagnosed as a right iliac wing fracture.

With this being the outcome, the already undersized Thunder could find themselves going even smaller with their lineup configurations, and, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander put it during his post-game media session, they may have “no choice" but to do so.

Thunder have 'no choice' but to get smaller, per Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

“All of us have to figure out to get stops and rebound. A few things that Chet does," Gilgeous-Alexander said, as transcribed by Joel Lorenzi of Oklahoma Sports.

Gilgeous-Alexander (24 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists) would also go on to note in his presser that while the injury to Holmgren is "hard" and "sucks" to see, in the end, he acknowledged that it's an unfortunate part of the game.

Following a sensational debut campaign in 2023-24, one where he dropped 18.2 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 2.3 blocks per game on 53.0 percent shooting from the floor and 37.0 percent shooting from deep en route to a second-place finish in the Rookie of the Year race, his sophomore go has been shaping up to be even better.

Tabbed as a player who could thrust himself into stardom heading into October's tip-off, prior to Sunday's early exit the big man was living up to these lofty expectations, sporting averages of 18.2 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks while shooting 53.0 percent from the floor and 40.0 percent from deep and helping guide his Thunder to a commanding 7-1 record.

Following his hip fracture, however, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander seems to be ready for the possibility of Oklahoma City leaning into a small-ball lineup with Isaiah Hartenstein and Jaylin Williams also sidelined due to health-related issues.

Though not ideal, playing smaller rotations proved to be a staple of this Thunder team's on-court plan last season, as they rostered just one regularly utilized talent who measured in at above 6-foot-9 and still managed to clinch the number one seed in the Western Conference standings.

OKC will likely be gearing up for a "next man up" mentality, as Jalen Williams put it during his presser, while heading into Monday's matchup against the LA Clippers.