January 19: Williams’ right hamstring strain will be reevaluated “in a couple of weeks,” according to the team’s PR department (Twitter link via Martinez).
January 18, 3:06 pm: Williams has been diagnosed with a right hamstring strain and will be out for Monday’s game at Cleveland, tweets Rylan Stiles of Sports Illustrated. The Thunder are typically cagey about providing injury timelines, but based on the diagnosis, Williams seems likely to miss multiple weeks.
January 18, 9:30 am: Thunder forward Jalen Williams suffered a right leg injury during Saturday’s loss at Miami, writes Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman (subscription required). Williams was technically ruled out with what the team called right thigh soreness, but he grabbed at his hamstring when the injury occurred about halfway through the second quarter (YouTube link).
Williams was able to limp off the court on his own, but he was hunched over in pain and was holding the back of his right leg (where the hamstring is located) for most of his steps. Head coach Mark Daigneault said the 24-year-old will be checked out on Sunday, tweets Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.
The former Santa Clara star was sidelined for the first 19 games of the 2025/26 campaign after undergoing a pair of surgeries on his right wrist. Williams has made 24 appearances so far this season, averaging 16.8 points, 5.6 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 29.6 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .470/.300/.833.
The fourth-year wing earned numerous accolades in ’24/25, making his first All-Star, All-NBA (third team) and All-Defensive (second team) appearances. He played a key role in helping Oklahoma City win the 2025 NBA Finals.
Williams didn’t talk to reporters after Saturday’s game, but he did make an ominous post on Instagram about the possible severity of the injury, per Andrew Schlect of The Athletic (Twitter link). The post is an image of a child in a toilet attempting to flush himself.
In another subscriber-only story for The Oklahoman, Martinez notes that Chet Holmgren will likely take on a larger scoring role if Williams misses additional time due to the leg injury.
Let him rest it, it sucks because Jalen is my favorite on the team. They can handle things without him though. He needs to be good for a playoff run.
OKC’s record was much better (18-1) when he was out, vs 17-7 when he played.
Part of that might be Cason Wallace starting all but 1 of those 1st 19 games.
Different competition though, played Spurs 3 times in like 10 days.
Suns games are comparative and the Hornets loss was terrible. Jalen still recovering from the wrist too, I wouldn’t say they are better with him out he is still a threat. Him out puts more on SGA.
True, and arguably Hartenstein’s being out has been a huge factor in the 3 losses since the ones to the Spurs. That 18-1 was largely due to playing the easiest schedule in the league.
No question even with his shooting struggles they’re better with him.
They had one of the easiest schedules to start the season
A championship is never guaranteed. Injuries and luxury tax can bring you down to earth real quick.
His energy was off in the weeks leading to this injury. For example, when he said that the reason the Spurs are playing well is because they have a 7”5 guy that takes a lot of space.
Furthermore, I’ve noticed his body language being unusually aggressive towards referees and himself.
Sometimes you just gotta give yourself a little grace and not get discouraged by his wrist injury
This will definitely hurt team. You have to let him heal. All about the playoffs.
His body language is aggressive towards himself? Interesting,
Hate this for Dub, man. He had a nice game against SA and seemed to be turning a corner.
That being said, I think this is a great opportunity for Chet’s continued development. An aggressive, scoring Chet is the best version IMO. I prefer him as the 2nd option due to his versatility and efficiency, especially from 3. I think he’ll really benefit by being option #2 with all the time he missed last year leading up to the playoff run.
Still hate it has to come at the expense of one of our best wing defenders/ball-handlers.
What’s the over/under for Chet diving to the floor today?