Oklahoma City Thunder: Early-Season Injuries Should Warrant Major Concern

The Oklahoma City Thunder are just three games into their season, and if you have eight fingers, you can count the number of active players on their roster with your hands. 

ESPN Thunder beat writer Royce Young tweeted just how extensive OKC's injury report is getting:

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The Thunder's injury situation is a paragraph on the lineup sheet: pic.twitter.com/MtZWgCOZtx

— Royce Young (@royceyoung) November 1, 2014"

To make things worse, neither Russell Westbrook nor Kevin Durant are one of the eight active roster players. Both players—Durant with a Jones fracture, Westbrook with a fractured hand—will not return to the Thunder lineup for another 4-6 weeks, per NewsOk.com Thunder beat writer Anthony Slater. 

So, is it too late for a 2012 NBA Lockout repeat? 

Needless to say, the Thunder are in a tough predicament just three games into the season. They're looking at playing the first 15 to 25 games of the year without Westbrook and Durant, leaving them to rely on Reggie Jackson—once he's healthy—Serge Ibaka and possibly the emergence of Perry Jones III. 

But, hey, the Thunder are 2-0 all-time without both KD and Westbrook, so there's that. Just don't bank on that statistic holding water. 

The main concern with the Thunder being injury ridden this early in the season is that every game counts in a highly competitive Western Conference. OKC had to win 59 games in the regular season last year to lock up the No. 2 seed. That feat would be astronomically more difficult this year considering the Thunder could miss 25 games without their two All-Stars. 

But forget the No. 2 seed. Thunder fans should be concerned with just making a playoff appearance given the circumstances. The Dallas Mavericks had to win 49 games to make the postseason last year, which is a winning percentage just under .600. 

Say the Thunder are without Westbrook and KD for the first 25 games of the season. A reasonable record for them in that span would be 13-12, and that's being pretty generous. That would leave OKC back at full strength with 57 games left, needing 36 wins to reach the Mavericks' eight-seed mark from last year. 

Basically, the Thunder would have to win 63 percent of the final 57 games of the regular season if that scenario plays out. Last season, the Thunder recorded a 73.3 winning percentage with Westbrook and Durant playing together, so it would definitely be a possible feat. 

Still, this scenario gives the Thunder the benefit of the doubt by assuming they will win 13 games without their two best players.

Also, rust and/or conditioning might come be a factor for Westbrook and KD once they return to the lineup. Durant's foot injury will prevent him from running or intense cardiovascular conditioning while he recovers. And Westbrook's broken right hand, his shooting hand, will prevent him from working on shots and layups as he remains sidelined. 

Six weeks is a formidable amount of time for athletes to miss from injury. It can't be expected for Westbrook and Durant to return to the lineup and immediately return to form. It will take time, which is something the Thunder may be short on. 

There is an answer for OKC in this debacle, however, and that is for other players on the roster to step up and carry the team while they're without their superstar teammates. 

Easier said, right? 

Royce Young on DailyThunder.com talked about the positive approach Thunder fans could take towards all of the injuries and noted the players who have opportunities to rise up in the next month or so for OKC. 

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Getting Jackson back will stabilize a lot of this. Just having him to initiate and run offense will at least give the Thunder an offensive identity, someone to look to for either a shot or to create one for someone else. Lamb can do some of the same. And there’s also the fact the Thunder can play some inspired defense, something they did a lot of in the first two games. People can rag on Scott Brooks all they want, but he gets his guys to play hard and they have a very sound defensive structure in place.

If you want to think positively, imagine a Thunder that build confidence and win some games over the next month behind good performances from Perry Jones and Jeremy Lamb. All that hand-wringing about not bringing in help could be zipped up based on the Thunder solving their perceived depth issues with existing youth. That’s a big time if, though, and on the flip side, it may just expose how unequipped those guys are to be key contributors.

"

The plethora of injuries to the Thunder's roster, including a reining MVP and All-Star point guard, is unfortunate for not only OKC fans, but NBA fans in general. It will undoubtedly hinder the Thunder's chances at locking up a top-four seed in the postseason, and even cause some concern of the Thunder making a postseason appearance. 

The next month or so will be huge for OKC as they attempt to tread water in the Western Conference standings with a short-handed roster. Players like Jackson, Ibaka, Jones and Lamb will have to rise to the occasion.

Otherwise, Thunder fans may yet again be saying "Maybe next year." 

Follow @JaredPorter_BR on Twitter for more Thunder news and analysis.