Stop telling me the Thunder are fine without Jalen Williams, 4-0 is lying

Oklahoma City is 4-0, Ajay Mitchell just scored 30, and by tonight somebody's going to tell you the Thunder are so deep they barely noticed losing Jalen Williams. Don't buy it. October records mean almost nothing, and that cuts both ways. I said it about the Knicks at 0-3 last week, and I'm saying it about the Thunder at 4-0 now.

Look at the last 24 hours. Williams fractured his fibula and dislocated his left ankle in Sunday's win over the Clippers. Cason Wallace tore the labrum in his left shoulder in the same game. Sam Presti said Monday that both need surgery, and Shams Charania reported they'll miss several months, most if not all of the season. Then on Monday night Chet Holmgren sat with patellar tendinitis in his right knee, and Alex Caruso left in the second quarter with a sprained right ankle.

Four guys out of the rotation, and the Thunder still beat Phoenix 125-114. I'll give them all of it. Mitchell went 10 of 16 for a career-high 30 in Williams' spot. Jared McCain made 4 of 7 from 3 and scored 18 in Wallace's. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 26 in 30 minutes. If you're a Thunder fan, that was a fun night, and I won't pretend otherwise.

Now look at who they beat. The Suns took 50 threes and made 18. Devin Booker scored three points on 1-of-7 shooting. Phoenix is 1-2. A short-handed team beating that team at home by 11 tells you Oklahoma City has good players. It tells you nothing about March.

Depth is supposed to be insurance. It's there so the drop-off is small when a starter goes down, and the Thunder just cashed two policies in one afternoon. Mitchell and McCain were the cushion. Now they're the starting lineup. Nobody doubts Mitchell can score with SGA pulling the defense toward him. What I want to know is who plays when the next guy turns an ankle, and Monday showed you that isn't a hypothetical. Caruso turned his in the first game they played without the other two.

The money makes it sting more. Williams is in the first year of a five-year, $239 million max. Wallace signed a five-year, $139 million extension last week. Those were bets on a core growing up together, and both bets are headed into surgery before Halloween. Williams already lost most of last season to a wrist surgery recovery and hamstring strains. Presti said things could have been a lot worse, and he's right. That's still a low bar for a team that just paid both of them.

The best counter is Shai, and it's a good one. As long as he's healthy, Oklahoma City has the best player on the floor most nights, and a team with that guy plus a pile of capable guards wins plenty of regular-season games. I'm not predicting a collapse. I'm telling you 4-0 is the wrong number to stare at. The numbers that matter are on the injury report.

Wednesday they're at Dallas, against a Mavericks team that just won in Miami. Holmgren's knee and Caruso's ankle matter more for that one than anything Mitchell did Monday. If the Thunder are still rolling in January with Williams in street clothes, I'll write the column admitting the depth was real and I was wrong. I'd rather owe you that column than pretend October told me anything.

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