Sam Presti

And then, you know, if need be, come off of your books at the end of the year so that you're in a similar financial situation, but you still can survive this upcoming season.

That's not normally how Sam Presti operates.

But I will also say, and Brian Windhorst noted this in a couple of podcasts about a month or so ago, where it felt like Sam Presti was making some of those very thinly veiled... uh requests or pleas even to ownership to let him continue to spend and uh those those spending limits and those limitations have really turned their ugly head in in really nasty ways here so um okay see i'm sure eventually they'll be they'll be just fine i don't think they are going to be the anywhere near the same caliber team that they have been the last few seasons though.

And that does clear the way for, you know, a path through the Western conference playoffs that maybe didn't exist before right now, Minnesota seems to have stepped up.

They have looked incredible at the start of the season.

I've been covering the team for seven years.

Seasons now and today at 5 p.m. had to cover the Sam Presti press conference where he announced that J-Dub is in great spirits but suffered a fractured fibula and a dislocated ankle on his left side.

Said it was more of a football injury that you would see in football typically, but it needs surgical operation.

And they'll have a cleaner timeline once the surgery has been underwent.

When you download the app, you can use code LOCKDOWN and get $25 when you trade $25 on Calshi.

Trade, what's next? We're inside the Paycom Center, and we're doing a double edition of Lockdown Thunder.

This is a bonus edition talking just about the injuries, just about what Sam Presti had to say, and then we'll come back with Derek Parker and recap the Suns game.

If you just want the basketball talk, you can listen to that show.

made sure he was comforted.

We saw Sam Presti also come down from the stands and, you know, talk to him and comfort him before he was taken out on the stretcher.

But this was a really, really sad moment for the Thunder.

And it's really, really sad for J-Dub.

It is 5.06 p.m. Central Time right now.

Shams just put out this announcement.

Sam Presti is also holding a press conference right now so really brutal news but i think a lot of us were expecting that j-dub is going to be out for most if not the entire season case and wallace this is another tough blow to the thunder

so yeah really really tough news sending my thoughts and prayers

The one thing quickly

is Oklahoma City, Sam Presti, He came into this season fortifying that roster.

I mean, it seems like he anticipates everything.

You can't anticipate this specifically.

But do they want to deal with that PR hit of trading somebody like J-Dub, especially after suffering an injury like this? I'll tell you what I think is going to happen.

I think Sam Presti will let this group play out for at least the next month plus, get into trade season in the NBA, then figure it out.

I think they're going to want to try to see, can our group overcome this? Because they didn't have him for most of last season either, and it didn't matter.

Now, they have less depth now because the players they had to trade away.

I would say the reason why I'm pausing on Hartenstein is just that, you know, they want to win a title now this year too.

And when you're counting on the development of a brand new guy, um, I don't know if you're ready to make that trade yet, but maybe they are because they'll be able to, you know, you know, Sam Presti, he's, he's an opportunity.

He's going to go for it.

I agree with you, but I don't think we have to break down like trade market availability in January.

I think it would be just detrimental to the character of the team, to the heart of the team.

You can't do that if you're Sam Presti, and I don't think he would do that.

But I do think if you're Presti and this Thunder team, you do have enough other players on this roster where you can look at things and say, well, maybe we do have to flip Jalen.

Nikola Topic.

You have tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of others around the United States and around the world that are left in tears, that are left completely heartbroken and gut-wrenched for a beloved player of this Thunder franchise, Jalen Williams, and his devastatingly horrific left foot and ankle injury that he suffered last night.

Well, We're going to get some answers from Sam Presti on this later today, actually.

He will address the media at 5 p.m. Central Time, a special press conference that was called to action a little bit ago before the Thunder, who do have to play a game tonight, will go out there, certainly very limited in terms of physicality and in terms of emotions.

I don't expect a ton from this team here tonight.

because of what they just had to go through last night and into the night as well.

I mean, you saw how shaken this team was by everything that happened last night.

Sam Presti is going to go and talk to the media himself, and I fully expect a diagnosis from this.

And the reason I say that is because of the amount of time that they have had now overnight, 16 hours where he has been under what I assume to be around-the-clock care and figuring out what exactly his long-term plan is going to have to be.