Thunder wing Jalen Williams has been upgraded to available for Thursday’s Game 6 in San Antonio, tweets Rylan Stiles of SI.com. Williams will come off the bench as Oklahoma City looks to clinch its second straight NBA Finals appearance, per Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Williams, who has missed the past three games after aggravating a left hamstring injury in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals, was initially listed as questionable. The Thunder currently hold a 3-2 lead on the Spurs after Tuesday’s Game 5 victory in OKC.
As we relayed on Wednesday, second-year guard Ajay Mitchell will remain out on Thursday. The Belgian guard is battling a right soleus (calf) strain.
Williams first strained his left hamstring on April 22 in Game 2 of Oklahoma City’s first-round series vs. Phoenix. He was absent for the entire second-round sweep of the Lakers due to that injury, then aggravated it in Game 2 vs. San Antonio.
After playing through a right wrist injury during the Thunder’s title run in 2025, Williams underwent surgery on that wrist in the offseason and then had a second procedure for the same ailment in the fall. Williams made his season debut in late November but missed extended time in 2025/26 due to a pair of right hamstring strains, ultimately only playing 33 regular season contests.
Williams, a third-team All-NBA selection last season, has averaged 17.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals in 24.3 minutes per game across four playoff appearances this spring.
OKC’s defense has been incredible. Caruso/Dort/Wallace is one of the nastiest defensive anchor combos you’ll find around the league. Unfortunately for them, none of them are 7 feet tall.
Some of the Thunder shots tonight were pretty surprising. In that 3rd quarter drought, I watched Chet drive to the rim, get stopped and pass out, just for Isiah Joe to take the same contested shot in the paint that Chet had like 3 teams in that 20-0 run.
Chet needs to play like a max guy to keep the Spurs offense under control. I don’t think the defense of the Spurs tonight will transfer to playing on the road but Chet needs to step up. Can’t wait for game 7
I’m not am Chet hater. I like him. But I don’t see a max player. He has to pick it up with Williams down. Can’t be all SGA. Spurs just don’t respect the Thunder lol.
If Thunder lose. Will they draft Mara ??
Maybe OKC should make Chet the #1 option instead of the “flopper SGA”, right?