It’s just not fair to him, it wasn’t supposed to go down like this.

Wear them if you got them!

14 years as a Thunder fan. Had to get this when we won 🏆

Thunder fans 2 days ago vs. Thunder fans now

It’s bigger than basketball ❤️ speedy recovery king.

Lakers fan coming in peace. I know emotions are still raw right now, and sending prayers up for J-Dub. He's a special player and you never want to see a guy go down. But looking at your squad this year, I don't think you guys have anything to worry about.

Your depth this season is just so good. Even with this setback, you still have the ultimate foundation with Shai and Chet, plus the guys that don't get enough credit. Ajay Mitchell is ready to roll, Kenrich Williams is a rock for you guys, and Topic is going to be such a good player for you guys once he's back on the floor. Even your rookie center, Aday Mara, looks legit. You have the assets, the coaching, and you have Sam.

Im rooting for you guys this season! I’m a huge UK fan so I’ve been keeping up with OKC ever since you got Shai. Worst-case scenario, I think you guys are still a lock for a top-4 team in the West.

I do write up a bunch of these and it's nice to share to give fans perspective on high profile injuries like JDub's, and also what to look for when the press conference hits today, and decipher what is considered the best case scenario and the worst case scenario.

At the end of the day, there is no replacing the actual reporting, so take what I write with a grain of salt.

I did post pics of Skat and Hayward's injuries below. Nothing crazy, but a warning none the less.

The Injury

A lot of the time in PT, we look at MOI (mechanism of injury) to anticipate what was injured. In this case, JDub went up and landed onto the inside of his foot/ankle, while his forward momentum from swinging on the basket caused a large amount of force to dislocate his ankle towards the inside.

Technically the Best Case Scenario

Some ankle dislocations are "clean", meaning without a fracture. It's incredibly rare. 0.065% of all ankle injuries occur without fracture. Over 99% of ankle dislocations happen with some sort of fracture.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9283584/

BUT, unfortunately, the likelihood of having an eversion dislocation and not having a break is even rarer than that.

OK OK, WHERE'S THE BEST CASE SCENARIO

The Actual Best Case Scenario

This is like cigarettes. I'm filling your brain with horrific shit and then you get to feel okay after.

Cam Skattebo - yes I had to reach into a different sport. But none the less, one of the more complex positions in terms of ankle stability.

His injury is very similar to JDubs. Foot set on the ground, ankle turned outwards, forward momentum drops his AND the defenders weight onto his ankle. This resulted in an eversion dislocation.

This requires a lot of force to dislocate the ankle because the deltoid ligament, the ligament that is holding together the ankle on the inside, is thick and strong. Usually if that ligament gives, the fibula breaks, and the tib-fib joint (syndesmosis) gets torn as well.

That's what happened to Skat and would be the most optimistic statistical outcome for JDub.

Skattebo injured his ankle on October 26, 2025.

8 weeks of non-weight bearing.

Statered rehab some time in late December.

Medically cleared on August 15, 2026.

His recovery is actually quite remarkable. It's the KD of ankle dislocations.

Worst Case Scenario

Additional structures are involved. Talking the tibia, the talus, and a complex break of the fibula. You also worry about compromised blood flow and nerve damage. Internal bleeding causing acute compartment syndrome. Infection.

I say this because no matter what we hear from the media, there are setbacks. Rehabilitation is sensitive.

Better than Worst Case

GORDON HAYWARD. This is where we get ugly. His MOI was much worse. More impact, less control.

Hayward fractured his tibia, fibula. His talus was fully out of socket. Deltoid ligament on the inside of his ankle, ruptured. The tib-fib syndesmosis? Shredded. The joint capsule? Asunder.

He did have a closed dislocation and his blood vessels/nerves were intact.

During the recovery, the screws in his ankles were causing problems. Every time he moved, the screws would rub against the tendons causing his ankle to swell. So a second surgery was done to remove all the plates and screws to allow him to move without more pain.

Almost 12 months to recover. Returned to basketball by the following summer, but didn't feel back to normal until the following season.

The False Comparisons

- Paul George: PG had a mid-shaft fracture, and relatively clean break. Not a great example when assessing recovery timelines.

- Caris Levert: Had a foot dislocation. Which is just below the ankle and was caused by inversion. The recovery timeline was significantly shorter.

My Takeaway

JDub will probably recover well, but his season is more than likely over.

Modern science and rehabilitation has made it easier to come back from what was once career ending injuries. Skattebo is performing well for the giants, so he's a case you can hang your hat on for now. I think, if the Thunder are careful, he'll be back next year with limited minutes.

I wouldn't think his injury is as gruesome as Hayward's. But I do think JDub's injury sits somewhere in between.

The concern is always that the recovery is mentally exhausting. Ankles are temperamental and it takes awhile to feel "normal".

I hope this was useful. Maybe this is all useless when Presti does his presser, but hey, hope this doesn't feel like such a waste of time.

And no, this was not written with AI lol.

I know the injuries are DEVASTATING. But now more than ever our guys need us to rally behind them, to be the loudest and most supportive fans ever. We still love this team, and they can still do some amazing things this season!! We will still play 82 games regardless of what happens, so let’s rally behind our guys for every single game and show our support. Like Presti said, Dub and Caso will come back, they’re resilient and tough.

While I don’t think it was intentional, this stupid fucking player didn’t know how to set a legal screen for his life and it cost us Cason. He had like 4 illegal screens at one point and was surprised every time it was called. Overall the refs did horrible job of controlling physicality last night.

This might sound corny but I’m sitting here at work only thinking about the Thunder. I feel such sorrow that the team was decimated yesterday. We were healthy for only two games. This season was already crucial for our core since most only have 1 or 2 year contracts.

It’s just not the way I wanted it to end. In my opinion, “what ifs” in sports are always worse than just losing in competition.

Anyway, it’s hard to get my mind off this. I hope Jalen doesn’t feel guilt or anything. We will really miss his vibes and joy until he can join the guys on the bench.

Just so frustrating to see. All last season and offseason my hopes were so high, couldnt wait to see dub back. Kept telling myself, i miss seeing jdub play, were gonna be even better once he comes back. Not even just me but the whole league was probably waiting to see him. You could even see how happy he was to play these past 3 games. Truly heartbreaking and its so crushing to see. And any app i go on its doomers saying his career wont ever be the same. Hes going to come back better and stronger than before. The guys will hold it down in the meantime and presti will do whats best for the team. None of the above have let us down before and its not changing anytime soon. Its 4:30 am and i havent slept so sorry for my rambling lol all my friends i told about jdub arent rly hoop fans and said didnt understand the emotions.

Go get #3 Shai

Russell Westbrook.

Assuming Dub is out for the year, the Thunder can apply for a Disabled Player Exemption (DPE) to allow them to go over the salary cap while acquiring a replacement… but there are SEVERAL caveats.

NOTE: I’m not saying this will happen or needs to happen, I’m just providing info on what can and can’t happen under the CBA.

(1) The maximum DPE value is equal to half the player’s salary or the full non-tax player MLE, whichever is lower. In JDub’s case, that would be the MLE, which is $15,044,000.

(2) OKC can sign or trade for a player making less than that amount this season, but the player must be on the final year of their contract with no option years, etc. They cannot have anything on the books for 2027-28. No exceptions.

(3) They cannot trade for a player making even a dollar more than that amount, regardless of whether they send away additional salary in the trade. You can’t aggregate salary with the DPE to take on additional money. The MLE amount is the cap for the player’s salary this year. No exceptions.

(4) The DPE allows you to go over the salary cap to acquire someone, but the additional money for any new player still counts toward the luxury tax and the aprons… which would affect OKC greatly in this scenario.

(5) They could offset some of the tax penalties and apron amounts by sending away some players (Topic, Sorber, etc) — but unless they could send away enough to still be under the second apron, that doesn’t matter much & would remove further depth.

(6) The only contracts that provide actual salary cap and apron relief rather than counting for their full amount are veteran’s minimum deals, which for the 2026-27 season only count $2,499,421 against the cap & apron.

(7) Because OKC is currently over the first apron, they would still only be able to take back salary equal to or less than the salary they send out, regardless of the DPE value. This makes it difficult to use the full amount without sending out a higher-value player (or 3+ low value players, which would decimate depth).

(8) OKC is currently $6,906,508 under the second apron. Because they would have to match salaries in any trade, that number shouldn’t change. And if anything it could increase (if OKC takes back less money than they send out).

(9) Topic & Sorber are making a combined $10,317,480 this year, so if they are the trade candidates, that would be the limit in salary to bring back via the DPE.

(10) OKC’s current second apron space is large enough to sign TWO players to veteran’s minimum deals, so they could theoretically send out multiple players for one in a DPE trade & then sign to guys to minimum deals and still be under the second apron.

(11) The deadline to use the DPE is March 10, which is after the trade deadline of February 11. Though any additions after the trade deadline would be limited to free agents and waiver claims only. But there’s no rush.

TLDR: It’s not as simple as “OKC could now have $15M to use to replace JDub with another player.” There’s a lot more to it than that.

EDIT: to provide more clarity on OKC’s current apron status & salary-matching requirements in trades.

the amount of missed calls leading up to dub’s injury last night needs to be investigated by the league. specifically, the undercutting by clippers defenders; i counted 4 undercutting no-calls, of the min. 19 total no-calls by LA, broken down by quarter:

1st qtr
- hachimura hold on chet
- jackson runs over dub
- dunn over the back on chet
- jackson moving screen on dub
- jackson obvious flagrant on cason (resulting in injury)
- lopez hold on mara
- lopez swipes down on mara

2nd qtr
- lopez reach on dub
- jackson undercut chet on lob
- sanders hip checks shai
- dunn undercuts shai

3rd qtr
- jackson undercuts dub
- jackson slaps dub in face
- jackson block on dub
- dick undercuts shai

4th qtr
- lopez block on ajay
- jackson reach on shai
- hachmiura reach on shai
- jackson reach on shai
dub injury happens