If you were to describe how the Oklahoma City Thunder saw their back-to-back title ambitions end, I think death by a thousand papercuts would be the perfect description. Juggling injuries all year, their house of cards finally fell apart just five wins shy of another Larry O'Brien trophy.

By the end of their epic duel with the San Antonio Spurs, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander just didn't have enough help to cross the finish line. Relying on a bunch of role players to step up while Chet Holmgren faded into the background wasn't a winning formula to get multiple wins in the series.

Instead, the Thunder fell short in a Game 7 loss in the 2026 Western Conference Finals. Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell were in street clothes for OKC's biggest game of the year. Maybe OKC could've survived one of those absences, but both? Impossible.

After Williams sustained a fourth hamstring strain in five months during OKC's Game 2 win over the Spurs, Mitchell once again was boosted to the starting lineup. He should be used to the promotion by now. After all, he broke out as a 20-point scorer in their Round 2 series win over the Los Angeles Lakers because of a vacuum of scoring possessions up for grabs.

But Mitchell's help didn't even last a full game. He sustained a soleus strain in OKC's Game 3 win over the Spurs. The 23-year-old caught the unlucky break after he committed a flagrant foul on Stephon Castle in the third quarter. Turns out, that was the last time he played this season. He missed the final four games of the series.

In Mitchell's exit interview, he talked about the brutal injury. Considering how catastrophic soleus strains can be if you play through them, the Thunder took the safe long-term approach by ruling him out for the final four games of the series. Even if they had to grind their teeth.

"I mean, it was tough. I think obviously physically, but also mentally. But it's part of the game," Mitchell said. "I think at the end of the day, we just look at it as we went through injuries, but we gave it our best shot. So there's no regrets on that end."

Staying healthy is probably one of Mitchell's biggest faults. He only played in 36 games last season and just 57 this year. And while he broke out as one of OKC's top players, his blue-collar, drive-first playing style has been taxing to his body. He probably needs to take a page out of Alex Caruso's book and lift his foot off the gas pedal to stay durable.

With the Thunder's painful decision to sit Mitchell out for the four most important games of the year, he said he'll be ready to go by the start of the 2026-27 season. Sitting him out absolutely hurt in the short-term, but it was the smarter decision in the long-term.

"It's my first calf strain, so just going through it, obviously feeling better and better every day, but I still got a lot of work to do to just be 100% healthy," Mitchell said. "Just a lot of work. Just getting back to being 100%. Obviously, being out here doing rehab and getting stronger, getting my calf ready. That's really it. I don't really have any other things to do right now but just get healthy."

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Ajay Mitchell gives injury update on season-ending calf strain