The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Phoenix Suns 125-114 on Monday night, October 26, 2026, to stay perfect at 4-0 — and they did it the hard way. Playing their first game since losing two starters to season-threatening injuries, the Thunder leaned on a career night from Ajay Mitchell, a lockdown defensive job on Devin Booker and a decisive second-half surge to keep their unbeaten start alive in front of their home fans at the Paycom Center.
Mitchell scored a career-high 30 points in his first start of the season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 26, and Oklahoma City never really let Phoenix breathe. The Thunder trailed for only a few seconds all night, seized control with a 22-6 run late in the second quarter and closed the game with a 12-2 burst early in the fourth. It was the kind of win that tells you something about a team: not just that it can win when everything goes right, but that it can win when almost everything has gone wrong.
From the opening tip, this game had the feel of a test. Less than 24 hours earlier, Thunder general manager Sam Presti had confirmed the worst fears about Sunday's win over the Los Angeles Clippers: Jalen Williams had suffered a fractured fibula and a dislocated left ankle, and Cason Wallace had torn the labrum in his left shoulder. Both need surgery. Both are out long term. Add Chet Holmgren, sidelined with right patellar tendinitis on the second night of a back-to-back, and Oklahoma City opened Monday night down three starters.
The response was immediate. Oklahoma City trailed for only a few seconds in the entire game, and although Phoenix hung around early, the Thunder took command late in the second quarter. A 22-6 run, built on scoring on nine of 11 possessions and a pair of second-chance baskets — including a Jared McCain three-pointer — turned a contest into a cushion. The Suns have struggled early this season to limit opponents' offensive rebounds, and Oklahoma City made them pay for it.
There was one more scare. Alex Caruso, who had been superb off the bench with nine points, three assists and two rebounds in just nine minutes — including three three-pointers in the second quarter — turned his right ankle with 1:34 left in the second quarter as he landed awkwardly contesting a Dillon Brooks jumper. He limped to the locker room and was ruled out midway through the third quarter with a right ankle sprain, leaving an already thin rotation thinner still.
Phoenix could not take advantage. Gilgeous-Alexander picked up his fifth foul with more than three minutes left in the third quarter and went to the bench, but the Suns managed only to trim a 16-point deficit to 14 by the end of the period. Early in the fourth, Oklahoma City reeled off a 12-2 run and the game was effectively over. The final score, 125-114, flattered Phoenix slightly; the Thunder had led by far more for long stretches.
The supporting cast filled every gap. McCain finished with 18 points, Isaiah Hartenstein posted 15 points and 13 rebounds, and Aday Mara recorded 11 points and 11 rebounds for the first double-double of his career. For Phoenix, Jalen Green led the way with 20 points and Brooks added 19, but without Booker, the Suns never found a second gear.
To understand why this win mattered so much, rewind 24 hours. On Sunday, October 25, the Thunder beat the Clippers 108-101 — and paid a brutal price. Williams landed awkwardly with 74 seconds remaining, his left leg collapsing beneath him, and was carried off on a stretcher as teammates wept. Earlier in that same game, Wallace was hurt running into a moving screen. Presti announced Monday that both players face surgery, with no return timetable until after the operations, though each is in jeopardy of missing the rest of the campaign based on similar past injuries.
The timing could hardly be crueller. Williams signed a five-year contract extension worth $239 million last year after playing through the Thunder's title run with a torn right wrist ligament, then missed 19 games last season recovering from wrist surgery and battled hamstring strains for much of the campaign. Wallace signed a five-year extension worth $139 million only last week. The Thunder had started the season 3-0 with solid contributions from both: Williams averaging 13.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.0 steal per game, Wallace averaging 6.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 1.3 assists.
Booker's quiet night, meanwhile, was a stunning reversal. He arrived in Oklahoma City fresh from a 43-point performance in Phoenix's 131-122 win over the Golden State Warriors on October 24, and had scored a combined 66 points across his first two games of the season. Against Oklahoma City, he managed three points on seven shots — his lowest-scoring game since Christmas 2022, when he left injured less than five minutes into a game, and, apart from that night, the first time he had been held below five points since his rookie season of 2015-16.
The story of the night was Mitchell. The third-year guard, thrust into the starting line-up by necessity, delivered when the Thunder needed someone to carry the scoring load. His 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting, with five assists and two rebounds, beat the 28 he scored against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the second round of the 2026 playoffs — until Monday, his career high.
Mitchell entered the night as one of the players Oklahoma City would lean on most heavily without Williams and Wallace. With Caruso also leaving the game, that responsibility only grew, and Mitchell kept answering. His performance was not just about volume: it was timely scoring, smart decisions and composure from a player making his first start of the season on a night when his team could easily have folded.
It was also a team defensive masterpiece. Booker never found rhythm against an Oklahoma City defence playing without Caruso, Williams, Wallace and Holmgren — four of its best defenders. The Thunder shaded help toward him, contested everything and trusted the rest of the Suns to beat them. Green and Brooks tried; neither could. Holding a player of Booker's calibre to three points is rare in any circumstances. Doing it short-handed, on the second night of a back-to-back, borders on remarkable.
Before the game, Presti struck a tone that mixed honesty with defiance. "We're extremely optimistic about the recovery for both of the players," he said of Williams and Wallace. "Most importantly, things could have been a lot worse." He added: "We'll wrap our arms around these guys. We'll get them back. We'll get them healthy."
On the wider challenge, Presti was blunt about the road ahead — and about what comes next for the roster. "When these things happen it's really tough. This is the kind of thing that gets thrown at you here. You just plow right through it. You walk through punches and you step over roadblocks. Our guys are ready to do that." Asked whether he had thought about trades to bolster the short-handed squad, he said: "I really haven't given a lot of thought to that."
Presti also praised Williams's mentality after a cruel run of injuries. "He has a great mindset," he said. "That's what keeps him motivated." Of the group as a whole, he added: "All I'm focused on right now is players, getting them the right support, and then helping everybody within our group. We have a tremendous challenge in front of us but this is what we do. We'll have to keep grinding and I know that's what we'll do. The train has got to keep moving."
Unbeaten starts are fragile things, and this one looked ready to break. Losing two starters to surgery in a single game would derail most teams' weeks, let alone their seasons. That Oklahoma City instead produced its most complete performance of the young season — balanced scoring, a defensive stranglehold on an elite scorer and poise through another injury scare — says a great deal about the depth and culture Presti and head coach Mark Daigneault have built.
It also matters for the Western Conference race. At 4-0, the Thunder have banked wins while short-handed that they may desperately need later, when the schedule toughens and the absences bite deeper. Every win collected now, with Mitchell stepping up and role players like McCain, Hartenstein and Mara producing, is a win the Thunder do not have to chase in March and April. And it sends a message to the rest of the West: this team does not need everything to go right to beat you.
For Phoenix, the warning signs are different. The Suns have now been exposed twice in a week: brilliant when Booker is brilliant, ordinary when he is not. Their struggles on the defensive glass are a real early-season problem, and Monday showed how quickly a game can slip away when the offence stalls. Booker will bounce back — players of his quality always do — but the Suns need more reliable second and third options when he has an off night.
Next up for Oklahoma City (4-0) is a road game against the Dallas Mavericks at 8:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday. The immediate questions are medical: how Caruso's ankle responds in the next 48 hours, and when Williams and Wallace undergo surgery and what timelines follow. Presti has said no return timetable will be set until after the operations, so expect updates later this week rather than a definitive prognosis on Wednesday.
Rotation-wise, expect Mitchell to keep a major role, McCain's minutes to stay elevated and Mara and Hartenstein to continue splitting the frontcourt load while Holmgren works back from patellar tendinitis. The Thunder's depth, so often praised in the abstract, is about to be tested in the most literal way possible — and Monday suggests it might just pass.
Phoenix, meanwhile, will look to regroup quickly. Booker gets a chance to answer his quietest night in years, and the Suns get a chance to fix the rebounding leaks that Oklahoma City exploited. The early season forgives a bad night; it does not forgive a pattern. Wednesday's games across the league will show whether Monday was a blip for Phoenix — and whether 4-0 is a launching pad, rather than a peak, for Oklahoma City.
The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Phoenix Suns 125-114 on Monday, October 26, 2026, at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
Ajay Mitchell scored a career-high 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting, with five assists and two rebounds, in his first start of the season.
Williams suffered a fractured fibula and a dislocated left ankle, and Wallace suffered a torn labrum in his left shoulder, both in Sunday's win over the Clippers. Both require surgery and are out long term.
Devin Booker scored just 3 points on 1-of-7 shooting, after scoring 43 points in his previous game against Golden State.
The Thunder play the Dallas Mavericks on the road at 8:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday, carrying a 4-0 record into the game.
Read more on US News Pulse: Thunder Injuries: Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace Face Surgery After Win, Cowboys Beat Eagles 38-21 as Barkley Suffers New Injury in Monday Night Rout and Brewers Rout Rays 10-1 in World Series Game 3 to Move One Win From Title.
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