Thunder center's injury will test the limits of small ball

In the first quarter of the Oklahoma City Thunder's 127-116 loss to the Golden State Warriors, Andrew Wiggins collided with Holmgren on a drive to the basket, and the 22-year-old center went down hard. He had to be helped off the court, and after the game, the Thunder announced he suffered a pelvic fracture on the play.

The team announced he'd be reevaluated in eight to 10 weeks, which would mean the earliest it'd even have news about Holmgren's return would be early January. If it's 10 weeks, that means he'd miss a minimum of 30 games.

This is a rare injury for a basketball player, so there's no telling what Holmgren's recovery might be like. It's a huge setback for a player who already missed the 2022-23 season with a Lisfranc injury in his foot. Last season, Holmgren stormed back to finish second in the Rookie of the Year voting and help the Thunder to the No. 1 seed. Now, he has to watch from the sidelines again.

Holmgren isn't the only Thunder center who's on the shelf. This summer's big free-agent signing, Isaiah Hartenstein, fractured his hand during a preseason game. His injury won't be reevaluated until the end of November.

In addition, Kenrich Williams, often used as a small-ball center despite standing just 6-foot-6, had knee surgery in September. He has no timetable to return. 6-foot-9 Jaylin Williams reaggravated a hamstring strain last week and will be reevaluated in three to five weeks.

So until the end of the month, the tallest active player on the Thunder is 6-foot-9 center Ousmane Dieng. Dieng has played 82 games in his three NBA seasons and has blocked 15 shots. They also have 6-foot-9 Malevy Leons, a Dutch rookie center who has 16 career minutes.

This means the Thunder will have to lean hard into small-ball play, which has been a part of their team philosophy for a while. Last year, they were starting 6-foot-5 Jalen Williams at power forward and often used Kenrich Williams as the backup. This season, they've used 6-foot-5 Alex Caruso at center when Holmgren sat.

He may be the starting center now. Luckily, the Thunder were best in the NBA at forcing turnovers last season, and that was without the All-Defensive Caruso. But they had problems rebounding, and those will be exacerbated.

It's going to be a tough three to four weeks for the Thunder. Without healthy big men, their title hopes might also have to be reevaluated.