2:30 pm: Williams has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 hamstring strain and will be reevaluated on a weekly basis, the Thunder announced today.
While it sounds like Williams may not return during the team’s first-round series vs. Phoenix, the good news is that a Grade 1 strain is the mildest form of the injury — it’s less severe than Grade 2 (a partial tear) or Grade 3 (complete tear) and doesn’t require as lengthy a recovery period.
According to Jeff Stotts of In Street Clothes (Twitter link), the average time lost due to a Grade 1 hamstring strain is approximately 12.4 days.
6:48 am: The Thunder beat the Suns on Wednesday by a score of 120-107 to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven first-round series, but a third quarter injury put a damper on the victory. As Tim MacMahon of ESPN details, star forward Jalen Williams left the game and didn’t return after suffering an apparent left hamstring injury.
Williams seemingly tweaked the hamstring when he landed after attempting a layup on a fast break (Twitter video link via ClutchPoints). According to MacMahon, it appeared that the 25-year-old mouthed the words, “Left hammy” before taking an intentional foul moments later so he could check out of the game. He didn’t return and didn’t speak to reporters after the win, but head coach Mark Daigneault provided a brief update during his post-game media session.
“We think he aggravated his left hamstring,” Daigneault said. “We’ll take a look at it in the next couple of days, and we’ll update you guys appropriately.”
After earning All-NBA and All-Defensive honors in 2024/25, Williams has been plagued by health issues in ’25/26. His season debut was delayed as he recovered from wrist surgery and he had a pair of lengthy absences later in the season due to right hamstring issues. Overall, he was limited to 33 regular season appearances.
The defending champion Thunder are one of the league’s deepest teams and did just fine in Williams’ absence, going 39-10 in the games he missed (they were 25-8 when he played). Still, he was off to a great start in the postseason prior to the injury, scoring 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting on Sunday and then pouring in 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting on Wednesday before going down in the third quarter.
Oklahoma City’s chances of defending its title could take a hit if Williams requires an extended recovery period, but it’s not clear yet how serious the injury is.
“Any assumption about time (missed) is just hypothetical at this point, so I’m not going to comment on that,” Daigneault said, per McMahon. “But I thought he was playing great obviously. He was on the gas. He had great force. He was hitting shots. Got really good shots for his teammates, especially early. So yeah, he was playing an outstanding game.”
OKC should be fine for this round and the next. Dub is needed in a WCf and Final. He dealt with right hamstring in the season, now left. Williams out might put Wiggins back in rotation.
If the Lakers are healthy they will need him. The way players play today is the reason they are always hurt. 5000 dribbles and moves to score. Get a quick basketball. That’s why the skill is is down. There are more moves but less skill
OKC blew Lakers out every game and never had everyone playing. They will be fine don’t get fooled byt LAL beating one of the saddest teams in Houston.
I would never bet on NBA basketball. The talent is at an all-time low and teams win by 31 game and then lose by 35 the next game. I bet on baseball or football
Hamstring injury at this time of year is serious. Fact he’s had hamstring issues all year even worse. They linger and take time to heal. You can’t rush it or you make it worse. Thunder depth will be tested. Definitely could play a role in WCF. This why it’s important to always get the highest seed.
He’ll be back in 12.4 days though.
Get well soon, J-Dub. You’ve become one of my favorite non-Dubs players in the league. I think OKC has enough to beat Phoenix and Houston, if they advance – the Lakers would be the toughest pre-WCF matchup, yeah, but Luka and Austin won’t be anywhere near 100% the remainder of the playoffs; and LeBron’s flaws will be harder to hide the further they advance. I’d still lean towards OKC over Lakers – minus J-Dub – because of the home court and the fact they can still run the Laker roster out of the building. As long as they’re not jacking way more 3s than the Lakers, OKC should be good; but they’d obviously need J-Dub back for the likes of MIN/DEN/SAS.