If you’re an NBA team, you never want to send out an injury update email during the middle of the summer. It only spells trouble. The Oklahoma City Thunder went through that again in an unfortunate trend that they’ve seen in recent years.

The Thunder lost Thomas Sorber to a torn ACL for the 2025-26 season. He sustained the knee injury in Sept. 2025. He joins Chet Holmgren and Nikola Topic as first-year players who missed an entire season with an injury.

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To add salt to the wound, Sorber was just cleared to return from foot surgery. His collegiate season at Georgetown was cut short because of turf toe. He didn’t play in the 2025 Summer League. Now, he’ll go around a year and a half between games.

The Thunder hoped Sorber could eventually be their long-term backup center. The 19-year-old was taken with the No. 15 pick of the 2025 NBA draft. Now, they must make roster decisions with zero NBA information surrounding him. His absence will open up a vacuum of minutes.

At his 2025-26 preseason press conference, Presti said that one player has been slept on who could take advantage of Sorber’s absence. He singled out a two-way player who gained supporters throughout last season as he enters his second year.

“I don’t think we talk enough about Branden Carlson,” Presti said. “He was pretty integral to our team last season. He played in some big games. He stepped up in some really big games. Again, in terms of, like, elevating people, I thought if you watched the lineups he was in, some of our lead handlers showed a lot of trust in him, and he delivered.”

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The Thunder added Carlson from the Toronto Raptors’ G League affiliate. He averaged 3.8 points in 32 games. The 26-year-old was a stretch center who was more NBA-ready than anybody anticipated when he went undrafted out of Utah. The seven-footer also dominated the G League competition when sent down.

“I think he’s got a bright future, so having him with the group is great. J-Will has only gotten better every year he’s been here. We played Kenrich at the five, and obviously we have Chet and Hart,” Presti said. “I think we’ll be good, but we also don’t have a ton of flexibility to go out and do something, but we’re not — we don’t feel the need to do that right now.”

Let’s see how Carlson looks in his second season. He was the only two-way player from last season who was brought back. If everything goes right, he could get converted to a standard deal. The regular season is a marathon, which means everybody on the roster will get their chances to play.

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Sam Presti believes this OKC Thunder player goes under the radar