Cason Wallace hurts shoulder, exits Thunder vs. Clippers

Wallace got hurt drawing an offensive foul on Isaiah Jackson, which is the most Cason Wallace way to get hurt there is. He went straight back to the locker room.

Justin Martinez

@Justintohoops

Cason Wallace immediately went into the locker room after drawing an offensive foul from Isaiah Jackson. Looks like his left shoulder popped out

Before it happened, Wallace had 4 points and 3 rebounds in 5 minutes. According to The Oklahoman's report, the shoulder looked like it had come out of the socket after he ran into a moving screen from Jackson. That's a scary sentence for a guy whose whole job is getting into bodies and fighting over screens. He is OKC's best point-of-attack defender, the guy who picks up the other team's ball handler so Shai Gilgeous-Alexander doesn't have to burn energy doing it.

Then it got worse. Not long after Wallace left, Jaylin Williams went to the locker room too. He'd played 5 minutes off the bench before the right wrist started bothering him. By halftime the Thunder had made it official for both.

Justin Martinez

@Justintohoops

Jaylin Williams (right wrist soreness) and Cason Wallace (left shoulder soreness) will not return to tonight’s game against the Clippers, per Thunder PR.

Look at the wording: "soreness" for both of them. That's the standard team-PR word and it doesn't tell you much yet. Soreness can mean a guy who's fine on Monday or a guy who's getting an MRI on Monday. With Wallace's shoulder looking like it popped out, the imaging is the thing that matters, not anything on tonight's box score.

That left the Thunder short a starter and a big against a Clippers team that was already ahead after the 1st quarter. Mark Daigneault went with Jared McCain to open the 3rd quarter.

Justin Martinez

@Justintohoops

Jared McCain is starting the second half in place of Cason Wallace, who's out for the rest of the game due to left shoulder soreness.

McCain coming into the starting lineup gives OKC more scoring and a lot less defense than Wallace does, and that's not a trade you'd want to make every night. Next up is the Suns on Monday, so the Thunder don't get a day off to figure this out. The thing to watch is whether Wallace even makes the injury report for that game or gets ruled out right away. If he's out more than a few days, OKC's guard depth gets tested a lot earlier in the season than anyone wanted.