This isn't how anyone envisioned the Oklahoma City Thunder season to go. A 4-0 start, at first glance, isn't shocking or even an overly noteworthy start, record-wise, for a club that has won over 60 games in the past two seasons, but four games into what was once a title-or-bust season, the team has lost Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace indefinitely and is bracing for two of their five starters to be out for the season. All of a sudden, expectations need to be altered, and questions are surrounding the team's contention status.

After the Thunder's season was derailed on Sunday, the team had to play Monday night, picking up wins on both ends of the squad's first back-to-back set. An off day on Tuesday was the only chance to regroup for the Bricktown Ballers, as Wednesday night the team is in Dallas to take on the Mavericks.

Not only will Oklahoma City be without Wallace and Williams, but the injury report doesn't stop there. Chet Holmgren, Alex Caruso, Nikola Topic, and Thomas Sorber join the duo in street clothes for this matchup. Even rising star Ajay Mitchell is tabbed as questionable in the hours leading up to tip-off.

Dallas' injury report features Dereck Lively II and Sergie de Larrea as out, with a slew of contributors labeled as questionable. Kyrie Irving, Nnaji Marshall, and Caleb Martin will have their availability revealed later today.

This game will pit the 4-0 Thunder against the 2-2 Mavericks against eachother on National TV with critical storylines to follow for the 48 minute contest inside the American Airlines Center.

3 Critical Storylines to Follow in OKC Thunder vs. Dallas Mavericks Wednesday Night Contest

1) Who is going to scale-up and defend Cooper Flagg?

This Thunder defense was already going to be fighting an uphill battle to maintain its historically great defesne after trading Lu Dort this summer. Though, many believed that the team would still be top of the current league landscape even if they fail to reach those massive heights. Missing Dort is to miss one of the few players that could scale-up and defend bigger bodies. It was going to be on Jalen Williams and Alex Caruso to fill that gap and to a lesser extent Cason Wallace. None of those three are available tonight meaning Oklahoma City doesn't have a single high-level to elite point of attack defender. Even at the rim, while Aday Mara and Isaiah Hartenstein will still serve the team well anchoring the defense, they are without their world-class rim protector in Chet Holmgren.

Oklahoma City will have a tough time slowing down the skillset and size of Flagg on a night like tonight, but head coach Mark Daigneault has made defense his calling card throughout his NBA career. If anyone could think of a plan to counter these team wide weaknesses it would be him.

2) Can Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Carry OKC, Again?

Down his co-star for the season, and his two fellow All-NBA players for this game, a lot is on the shoulders of Gilgeous-Alexander. This has never phased him in the past but the chance of also being down the only other shot creator on the roster in Ajay Mitchell makes this contest even more of an up hill battle. He will need a best in the world, MVP level performance to deliever OKC to 5-0 and that is never out of reach for a player of his caliber.

3) Who Steps Up?

The Oklahoma City Thunder have had the displeasure of gaining a ton of experience dealing with massive injuries that shake up a season. It has been the story of the last two seasons, though not to the extent of bracing for the potential season-ending loss of two of the team's five starters in Wallace and Williams. Throughout the past two years, Mark Daigneault has been able to get a lot out of the depth pieces on this team. Who will be the player that makes a massive impact tonight offensively?