The Oklahoma City Thunder arrive in Dallas with the kind of record that usually changes the tone of a building before tipoff. They are 4-0, they are allowing a league-low 100.8 points per game, and they have already stacked enough early-season evidence to look like a team that is still carrying championship standards from last year’s run to the 2025 NBA championship and the Western Conference finals. But Wednesday night’s Mavericks Vs Thunder matchup comes with a wrinkle: Oklahoma City is short-handed, and Dallas coach Dusty May does not expect that to change the way the Thunder compete.
The Thunder were scheduled to face the Mavericks at American Airlines Center at 8:30 p.m. CT, and the available information pointed to several notable absences for Oklahoma City, including Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace and Alex Caruso. Even so, May framed the matchup as one that would still look and feel like the Thunder. His view was simple: the names may change, but the competitive standard usually does not.
“I mean, obviously, you have a league MVP in Shai,” May said, also pointing to the depth behind him. “They have a lot of really good players. And obviously, some of those guys are out. I’m not sure [if] Ajay Mitchell, if he’s out now,” he said, before adding that Oklahoma City’s record is built on more than one lineup configuration. That is the heart of the challenge for Dallas. A team can be weakened by injuries and still play with the same organizational identity, especially when the roster is deep enough to keep the defensive machine intact.
Why Oklahoma City still looks like itself
That is what makes the Thunder so difficult to evaluate in a single game. On Monday, Ajay Mitchell scored a career-high 30 points in a 125-114 win over the Phoenix Suns, another reminder that Oklahoma City can absorb absences and still produce high-end performances. May said he had seen that before, recalling a game last season in Detroit when the Thunder were short on bodies but “fought like crazy.” His point was not nostalgia. It was a scouting report.
“So we’re going to get the same Thunder DNA tonight as if Chet’s playing, as if some of those other guys are playing,” May said. That is a fair warning for Dallas, which is trying to settle into its own season during a three-game homestand. The Mavericks are 2-2 after beating the Miami Heat 113-109 on Monday in what was their first close game of the season, and that matters because close games tend to expose the difference between a good team and one still trying to find its late-game answers.
For Oklahoma City, though, the bigger story is continuity. The Thunder are not simply surviving early injuries; they are still setting the pace in the Western Conference by defending at a level that has already made them look like a team with postseason muscle. That is why May’s praise of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was so pointed. In his words, he is “the captain of that ship,” and the way the Thunder have built around him has clearly kept them dangerous even when the lineup is thin.
Dallas may be looking at the opponent’s injury report and seeing opportunity. May is looking at something more sobering: a team that can lose pieces and still play with structure, intensity and a clear identity. If that holds, the Mavericks Vs Thunder matchup is less about who is unavailable and more about whether Dallas can match the standard Oklahoma City has already made normal.
