After closing out on Braden Smith, Otega Oweh tried to get the rebound. Instead, he sustained a scary non-contact injury. Immediately folding on the floor, he grabbed the back end of his right ankle. The quarter-filled OKC crowd was stunned in disbelief.
Any excitement from the Oklahoma City Thunder in their 114-112 overtime preseason win over the Indiana Pacers was zapped away. The 23-year-old needed help to walk off the floor as a few of his NBA teammates carried him into the locker room.
You don’t want to speculate, but Oweh’s injury looked like a textbook torn Achilles tendon. Especially since it was non-contact and he needed help. One person in the building who could relate was Tyrese Haliburton. He made his return to OKC for the first time since he tore his Achilles tendon in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals.
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault kept it short when talking about Oweh’s injury. You can tell that the arena vibes kinda died down when it happened. Especially in such a trivial setting, such as preseason overtime.
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“It’s really tough,” Daigneault said. “Really tough. It’s tough for him.”
We’ll see what happens with the Thunder and Oweh. Expect an injury update in the near future. They added him with the No. 41 pick of the 2026 NBA draft. He’s on a two-way deal.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Otega Oweh sustains non-contact injury in OKC’s preseason win over Pacers