The Oklahoma City Thunder are officially without half of their 15-man roster. Most recently, rookie Josh Giddey was declared out for the season (hip soreness) and there’s a chance Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (ankle soreness) could sit the rest of the way as well. On top of these two, Darius Bazley left Saturday night’s game early with a right knee sprain and is expected to miss at least a few games.
Prior to that, a core trio of Lu Dort, Ty Jerome and Mike Muscala had season-ending surgeries. Additionally, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Kenrich Williams and Derrick Favors have all been sidelined with various injuries for over a month.
With all of that in mind, the Thunder roster is completely depleted with just eight games left in the 2021-22 season. As such, players that didn’t get as much of an opportunity earlier in the season are starting to get significant minutes.
One player who will shoulder a huge load over the final two weeks is rookie Tre Mann. Since the end of January, he’s been a consistent starter as he fills the void of injured Thunder guards.
Over his last 26 games (24 starts), Mann has produced 14.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists while shooting 36.0% from beyond the arc. As a primary facilitator, he’s shown the ability to be a true point guard at the NBA level, notching eight games with at least four assists since the beginning of February.
After being selected No. 18 overall in the recent draft, Mann has emerged as one of the top scorers in this class. If he’s able to show improvement over these final two weeks and have a quality offseason, he could play a huge role for the team next season even with a fully healthy roster.
Another young prospect who has played much better in an increased role of late is 7-footer Aleksej Pokusevski. Despite being in his second NBA season, he’s actually almost a full year younger than Mann. With a slim frame, Pokusevski has struggled with the physicality of the NBA game to this point in his career.
Following a very poor start to his sophomore season, the Serbian forward has played spectacular over the past several weeks. With the variety of forward injuries on the roster, he’s become one of the most consistent players on the team.
Since the beginning of February, Pokusevski has played in 22 games (seven starts) while averaging 11.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists per contest. Although he was thrown into a much larger role upon returning from a G League stint, Pokusevski has responded as well as the Thunder front office could have ever hoped for. With Giddey and Gilgeous-Alexander out of the lineup, he’s also been given the opportunity to handle the ball more frequently.
On both ends of the floor, he’s risen to the occasion and has been highly productive. Pokusevski has proven to be worth the No. 17 overall pick that was used on him in the 2020 NBA Draft just based on the raw upside he’s shown recently.
Finally, players like Lindy Waters III, Olivier Sarr and Vit Krejci would likely not play on any other roster around the league, but are able to in Oklahoma City. With how many players are injured, these inexperienced prospects are getting to play for the Thunder rather than their G League affiliate in the OKC Blue.
Whether it’s a player that is carving out a role on the OKC roster longterm or a G League prospect just getting the opportunity to showcase their talent at the NBA level, the injuries the Thunder are facing allow many others to step up with a unique opportunity.
