After one of the darkest days in franchise history, the Oklahoma City Thunder must continue to roll along. The sun has risen. The marathon continues. The former co-title favorite went from daunting to human. Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace are expected to miss most — if not all — of the 2026-27 season.

Both Williams and Wallace sustained potential season-ending injuries in OKC's win over the LA Clippers. Williams was diagnosed with a fractured fibula and a dislocated ankle. Wallace was diagnosed with a torn labrum on his shoulder. Both will require surgery.

Wow. Just wow. The Thunder are still processing how these two catastrophic injuries affect them both in the short-term and long-term. But the NBA regular season is unforgiving. Playing on an every-other-night basis leaves little time to fully process grief and other emotions from seeing Williams and Wallace sidelined for the foreseeable future.

How can the Thunder still salvage the 2026-27 season? Which is only an infant four games old? Here are four Thunder players who can step up in their absences. Plenty of opportunities are up for grabs now as OKC tries to Frankenstein its roster back together:

Chet Holmgren

Well, Holmgren — can you repeat last year's success? I know he was ridiculed more than most during the summer. But it didn't take long for him to remind folks why he was an All-NBA talent and Defensive Player of the Year runner-up last season. The advanced metrics paint him as one of the best players. He's the second-best rim protector in the league. Only behind his nemesis. Now that the Thunder are in a grim reality without two of their four best players, more will be expected of him. On both ends.

The Thunder are now led by Gilgeous-Alexander and Holmgren. The All-NBA tandem is talented enough to keep them in the contention conversation. After that, though, it gets a little scary. You're relying a lot on your role players to be consistent positives throughout the grueling regular-season schedule. If that can't happen, Holmgren has to step up as OKC's second-best scorer and best defender. There's zero tolerance for nights where he takes single-digit shot attempts. Even if it goes against his within-the-flow basketball philosophy.

Ajay Mitchell

In the ashes of OKC's doomsday scenario, Mitchell could parlay it into reaching his financial dreams this upcoming summer. The Thunder once again are expecting him to take on the brunt of the workload. He went from Sixth Man to second-best scorer real quick. He showed he's capable of scaling up in spurts. It's now about doing it for an entire year. Which could prove to be asking for a Herculean task.

Health has been Mitchell's biggest enemy since he joined the NBA. His brutal, drive-heavy scoring style adds a lot of mileage on your legs. There's no doubting the formula, though. That's how he went from second-round afterthought to a household name. It's now about doing it every night. Same on defense. Suddenly, he's one of OKC's best perimeter defenders. We'll see if he can handle such a taxing workload on both ends. It's sink or swim.

Alex Caruso

Time to rip apart the bubble wrap. You no longer have that luxury with Caruso. The Thunder will need the 32-year-old to be an important piece of their regular-season success. In his first two years, that wasn't required. OKC did just fine with him on ice. But that's when it had Wallace and Lu Dort as its top point-of-attack guys. Obviously, those two are out of the picture now. He'll need to be a regular-season guy. Just like he was on the Chicago Bulls before being traded.

The advanced metrics love Caruso. Even with his pedestrian box-score stats. He grades out as one of the most impactful players in the league. That's how vicious he is on defense. Even if the naked eye won't pick him out as one of the top era-defining defenders this past decade. The outside jumper has to be reliable, too. You can't dip below 30% from 3. I think he's up for it. It's just about staying healthy — which is a tall task at his usual 100-MPH game speed.

Kenrich Williams

After seeing his playing time dwindle over the years, Williams has shot back up on the depth chart. In his seventh season in OKC, he's returned to the rebuilding years as one of their top reserves. Let's see if he can still handle it. With Williams out, the 31-year-old is the last remaining traditional forward left in the rotation. That will guarantee him minutes for the rest of the way.

Williams has been a staple in OKC for years. He hasn't minded that his playing time has decreased over the years. His patience has been rewarded with this golden opportunity. The Thunder will need him on both ends. He's one of their most physical defenders left standing. And his outside jumper has always been pretty reliable. Let's see if he can handle the grind of the regular season. Like he once did a long time ago.