A string of bad luck won’t discourage Thomas Sorber. The 19-year-old had the unfortunate luck to continue a disturbing trend for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He sustained a torn ACL in the offseason that knocked him out for the entire 2025-26 season.

Sorber joins Chet Holmgren and Nikola Topic as Thunder players who will miss their first season due to injuries. What makes it sting even worse is that he was just cleared to return after a foot surgery that cut his collegiate season at Georgetown short.

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Gingerly walking to his press conference on 2025-26 Media Day, Sorber remained with a smile. His braces showed as he made lemonade out of lemons. He called his torn ACL just the latest bump on the road and still believes he has a full future in the NBA ahead of him.

“It was awfully disappointed. Yeah, I see it as like a blessing as well,” Sorber said. “I get to come into the league for a year just to learn, just to learn the league and learn a lot from the guys that are going to be my teammates next year.”

Sorber will get a chance to lean on Holmgren and Topic. Both players can provide him with an exact breakdown on what to expect this upcoming season. The latter can help even more, considering he also had a torn ACL. Nobody wants to miss an entire season, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make the best of a bad situation.

“Those guys have been telling me just to stick to rehab, just to keep your head down, keep to listening to what the trainers have to tell you,” Sorber said. “So that’s what I’ve been doing and I feel I’ve been doing pretty well at that.”

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Now, Sorber goes behind the curtains. He will quietly rehab in the background while the Thunder defend their NBA championship. All eyes will be on OKC as it brings back mostly the same roster. Tied for most national TV appearances, they will be at the forefront of most folks’ minds.

Every now and then, there will be reminders that Sorber is on the roster. Whether it’s at practice or shootaround. It’ll be fun to keep tags on him throughout the year as he clears one hurdle after another. Let’s hope he can take advantage of the year and a half between games.

“The injury was unfortunate, but now I see it as a blessing,” Sorber said. “I get to have a full year just to get my body right just to get back to where I need to be, to be at my best spot next year.”

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Why Thomas Sorber believes his torn ACL is a ‘blessing’