With the NBA season soon approaching, the unfortunate reality of injuries still applies to the offseason. The reigning champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, will lose one of their incoming rookies for all of 2025-26 due to an injury.
OKC Thunder Rookie To Miss 2025-26 With ACL Injury
Thomas Sorber Out For Season With ACL Tear
As reported by NBA correspondent Marc Stein, big man Thomas Sorber suffered an ACL injury in his right knee during a workout. Undoubtedly, Sorber will miss the entirety of the coming season as part of his recovery. He was the 15th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, coming out of Georgetown. As a prospect, Sorber is one of the best centers in his class. Specifically, he impressed many with his physical tools, combined with his overall skills on both ends. Standing at six-foot-10 with a seven-foot-six wingspan, his strengths lie in his ability to protect the rim on one end and finish well on the other. Considering his skill set, Sorber would be a perfect fit as a backup big for the Thunder.
Implications On The Thunder’s Rotations And Season
The loss of Sorber for the season is a huge blow. To be sure, there is no guarantee that the 19-year-old would have factored into the Thunder’s rotation. Oklahoma City retained its championship core for this season, so they may not have had minutes for Sorber. The current center rotation in place for OKC is still entirely sufficient to help win games.
However, Oklahoma City did need an extra playable big. In particular, they needed injury insurance as players like Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Jaylin Williams all have their own injury history. If multiple of these bigs go down at the wrong time, that can have massive implications for the landscape of the West. Considering the absolute bloodbath of that conference and the multitude of excellent centers around the league, major losses at the five spot can be catastrophic to the Thunder’s standing. The current rotation is fine in terms of talent and impact, but injuries are a significant concern.
The Thunder’s Unlucky History With Injuries To Their First-Round Picks
Losing a rookie as talented as Sorber is a major loss, but the Thunder are no strangers to that. In fact, for the past four seasons, they’ve had multiple rookies suffer season-ending injuries before their seasons even started. In 2022, Holmgren sustained a Lisfranc injury during a Pro-Am game, causing him to miss the entire 2022-23 season. OKC’s 12th pick in the 2024 draft, Nikola Topic, suffered an ACL tear of his own. He picked up that injury before the draft, and it caused him to miss the entirety of 2024-25.
While the Thunder ultimately won the 2024-25 season, Topic missed valuable developmental time. Considering their history, Oklahoma City has been incredibly unlucky with these injuries to their draft picks. Nevertheless, Holmgren recovered from his injury, and Topic has as well, based on his Summer League play. Hopefully, Sorber can recover fully for 2026-27.
Featured image ; Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
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