**[OC] OKC currently has 72.6% of the salary cap tied up in injured players, by far the most in the NBA**
posted by u/OutrageousGroup1650 · 2026-10-28 12:53 UTC
I was curious how OKC's injury situation compares to the rest of the league, so I went through the ESPN injury report, took only players listed as OUT, and added up their 2026–27 salaries as a percentage of the $164.96M salary cap.
Here's how all 30 teams compare (October 28):
Rank Team Players OUT Salary OUT % of cap
1 OKC 7 $119.77M 72.6%
2 GSW 3 $90.96M 55.1%
3 LAC 6 $85.27M 51.7%
4 ORL 5 $78.24M 47.4%
5 MIN 2 $61.46M 37.3%
6 UTA 3 $60.46M 36.7%
7 CHA 4 $51.59M 31.3%
8 TOR 2 $50.30M 30.5%
9 HOU 2 $48.64M 29.5%
10 DAL 5 $40.43M 24.5%
11 DET 1 $40.16M 24.3%
12 IND 4 $38.67M 23.4%
13 SAC 4 $30.89M 18.7%
14 CHI 1 $23.86M 14.5%
15 WAS 4 $20.42M 12.4%
16 POR 2 $20.09M 12.2%
17 SAS 2 $18.95M 11.5%
18 DEN 3 $12.18M 7.4%
19 PHX 1 $11.73M 7.1%
20 PHI 4 $9.40M 5.7%
21 LAL 2 $5.47M 3.3%
22 ATL 2 $3.76M 2.3%
23 NOP 1 $3.51M 2.1%
24 BOS 1 $0 0%
25 BKN 1 $0 0%
26 CLE 0 $0 0%
27 MEM 0 $0 0%
28 MIA 0 $0 0%
29 MIL 0 $0 0%
30 NYK 0 $0 0%
OKC is missing Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Caruso, Wallace, Topić, Sorber and Oweh. That's 17.5 percentage points more of the salary cap than second-place Golden State.
Obviously salary isn't a perfect measure of how much production a team is missing, and this doesn't account for how long each player will be out. But the gap is pretty ridiculous.
## Top comments
1. u/Vicentesteb · 2026-10-28 12:55 UTC
OKC got ravaged but they still got Shai so they'll be mostly fine. What really sucks is the JDub injury, man just cannot catch a break, its been constant since his wrist ligament tear in 2025.
2. u/benzodiazekiing · 2026-10-28 12:58 UTC
Such a shame man. He’s so much fun to watch. All summer long he talked about how excited he was to finally be healthy. Even the night before he did a social media post for a local news station (who now is broadcasting games) where he said “tune in where I’ll be playing ALL SEASON”
Less than 24 hours later, it happened. Just feel so terrible for him.
3. u/Vicentesteb · 2026-10-28 13:00 UTC
It was so meaningless too, just a tough fall late in a game that was won in the regular season. One of those awful freak injuries.
4. u/Jortay9 · 2026-10-28 13:48 UTC
Semantics but I don’t think the game was won. 4 point game with like 75 seconds left. Still just one game out of a long season.
5. u/lloopiN · 2026-10-28 15:45 UTC
Yeah it isn't like it was one of those "injury prone" injuries... it was just super bad luck and a bad landing.
6. u/Emergency-Eye-2074 · 2026-10-28 17:29 UTC
Yeah this is why I hate when star players play even one second in a game that's over. Your season can end in the blink of an eye. Also it's a good chance for your bench guys to get some minutes and some playing time in the NBA which is awesome for them (and their injury risk should be much lower with 0 wear and tear on them essentially).
For what it's worth I don't think this was one of those cases though. The game was still in reach. Just really unlucky for williams and the thunder
7. u/Dramatic_Gene_3077 · 2026-10-28 13:11 UTC
Me too. His trajectory was special. Hopefully he can bounce back:/
8. u/benzodiazekiing · 2026-10-28 14:09 UTC
Luckily he still has his youth. I think he can bounce back
9. u/Codito_Gaming · 2026-10-28 12:59 UTC
Which is insane when you remember he shot a 40 point game in the finals with that injury
10. u/Vicentesteb · 2026-10-28 13:02 UTC
Some players just got that dog in them.
11. u/Thrayvsar · 2026-10-28 18:02 UTC
Almost cried when the crowd started barking while he got stretched off
12. u/the_goodnamesaregone · 2026-10-28 14:09 UTC
I do think we’re still a pretty good team. It’ll be a struggle to make a deep run, but we aren’t an easy win for anyone.
But also, yes. Holy fuck this sucks. So many young and promising dudes forced to sit out and heal. We’re being robbed of watching Dub, Caso, Chet, and Caruso. Topic, Sorber, and Oweh never being on the court at 100%. Presti built this team and we’ve never seen it fully healthy. Just sad.
13. u/chakrablocker · 2026-10-28 14:03 UTC
Sounds like a valuable player. Maybe the most?
14. u/Parallel-Quality · 2026-10-28 14:44 UTC
He carried an injury riddled team to the #1 seed in each of the past two seasons so people have become numb to it.
Last season they were third in man games lost in the entire league.
The season before they only ever had one big man in the lineup at any given time as Chet, IHart and JWill all missed significant time.
Now they have even less depth than either of those teams, and more key injuries and people are like “yeah they’ll probably still be the #2 seed.”
15. u/siphillis · 2026-10-28 15:02 UTC
They need Shai to stay fresh for the playoffs. He looked worn out by the WCF
16. u/justwriteforme · 2026-10-28 14:54 UTC
It’s too soon to make a joke about “catching a break”, right? Yea. Too soon.
17. u/tlj2494 · 2026-10-28 16:50 UTC
And I think when you look at what happened to Hayward it may be something he never really fully bounces back from.
18. u/transizzle · 2026-10-28 13:13 UTC
I didn’t know it was possible for Memphis to have 0 players injured
19. u/YSLAnunoby · 2026-10-28 14:10 UTC
It does help that they're quite young. 2nd youngest team in the league after Nets with average age of 24 and a half
20. u/KartFacedThaoDien · 2026-10-28 15:01 UTC
OKC is the 3rd youngest team in the NBA is riddled with injuries.