Jalen Williams Has Right Hamstring Strain, Out At Least 2 Weeks
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.
Blazers Notes: Avdija, Injuries, Love, Cissoko, Hinson
Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija has been upgraded to questionable for Sunday’s game in Sacramento, the team announced (Twitter link). As Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report observes (via Twitter), the upgraded status is a good sign for Avdija potentially returning after missing three games with a lower back strain.
Avdija is having an excellent season for Portland, averaging 26.1 points, 7.1 rebounds and 6.9 assists on .468/.355/.801 shooting in 40 appearances (35.4 minutes per game). The 25-year-old suffered the back injury last Sunday against New York.
Jrue Holiday, Jerami Grant and Robert Williams are all doubtful to suit up on the second night of a back-to-back. Holiday and Grant recently returned from lengthy injury absences, while Williams has battled knee issues for years.
Here’s more on the Trail Blazers:
- Portland has dealt with a series of injuries in 2025/26, but improved to 21-22 with a 16-point victory over the Lakers on Saturday. According to Joe Freeman of The Oregonian, the team feels as though it’s rounding into form. “It feels like we’re starting to be the team that everyone thought we were going to be at the beginning of the year,” center Donovan Clingan said, flashing a wide smile. “Hopefully, once we get everyone healthy, we’re going to make a big jump and we’re going to start winning a lot of games. This is just the start of it and it feels really good.”
- Two-way players Caleb Love and Sidy Cissoko have emerged as viable members of the rotation in the wake of the injuries. Love, who went undrafted out of Arizona in 2025, recorded 22 points and seven assists in yesterday’s win and has now scored 10-plus points in 14 straight games, per the Blazers (Twitter link). The 24-year-old guard has also made multiple three-pointers in 14 consecutive games, tied for the second-longest streak by a rookie in league history.
- As Highkin recently noted, Love and Cissoko are nearing their active-game limits and both players have made cases to be converted to standard deals. If and when those conversions occur, Highkin believes the Blazers should promote Rip City Remix standout Blake Hinson to a two-way contract. The 6’8″ forward has played 21 games (32.6 MPG) with Portland’s G League affiliate in ’25/26, averaging 24.4 PPG, 4.5 RPG and 2.4 APG on .491/.388/.717 shooting.
Darius Garland Has Grade 1 Toe Sprain, Out At Least One Week
Two-time All-Star Darius Garland has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 right great toe sprain and will be reevaluated in seven-to-10 days, the Cavaliers announced in a press release.
Garland, a 6’1″ point guard, suffered the injury in the third quarter of Wednesday’s win in Philadelphia. He underwent imaging at the Cleveland Clinic on Saturday, which revealed the Grade 1 sprain.
According to the Cavaliers, Garland will receive treatment and rehabilitate the toe injury over the next week or so until he’s checked out again.
It’s a tough setback for the 25-year-old, who has already missed extended time this season due to a toe injury on his opposite foot.
Garland underwent surgery over the offseason to address a great toe injury on his left foot. He missed the first eight games of 2025/26 while recovering from that surgery, then re-injured his left big toe in November, causing him to miss another five games (eight if you include not playing both ends of back-to-backs).
Garland got off to a slow start this season while dealing with the lingering effects of that left toe injury, averaging just 15.4 points and 6.4 assists on .363/.295/.870 shooting in his first 12 games (29.8 minutes per contest). However, he has started to round into form over the past month, averaging 20.1 PPG and 7.4 APG on .522/.419/.848 shooting in his last 14 games (30.9 MPG).
With Garland out at least four more games (he missed Friday’s rematch with the 76ers), Craig Porter Jr., Jaylon Tyson and Tyrese Proctor are among the Cavs who could get more playing time.
Warriors Notes: Hield, Butler, Richard, Kerr, More
Veteran guard/forward Buddy Hield capitalized in his unexpected return to the Warriors‘ rotation during Saturday’s win vs. Charlotte, writes Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area. Hield, one of the most prolific three-point shooters in NBA history, has struggled from long distance in a limited role this season, converting just 32.7% of his outside attempts.
Hield got an opportunity to play Saturday because Jimmy Butler was a (very) late scratch because of personal reasons. The 33-year-old finished with 14 points (on 5-of-8 shooting), three rebounds, three blocks and two steals in 18 minutes.
“It was great. He’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever seen,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “Just the way he conducts himself. His energy, his joy — whether he’s playing or not — it’s just the light that he brings to the locker room every day is infectious and powerful. He’s just an incredible guy to coach. I was happy for him that he had that night given that he’s been out of the loop for a while.”
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- Butler was announced as a starter during pregame player introductions, so the crowd at Chase Center was confused when rookie Will Richard — not Butler — was part of the starting lineup, Johnson notes. General manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. told Kerr that everything was OK with Butler, according to Johnson (Twitter link).
- Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area shares his takeaways from Saturday’s victory, which featured solid performances from Richard (11 points, six rebounds, five assists, three steals), De’Anthony Melton (24 points, six rebounds, three assists) and Brandin Podziemski (16 points, seven assists, six rebounds, two steals), among others.
- Kerr said prior to Saturday’s game that he doesn’t think another team will be able to break Golden State’s regular season record of 73 wins, which came back in ’15/16, as Nick Friedell of The Athletic relays. “I remember at the time I thought, ‘No way,’” Kerr said. “And then, about a month ago, I thought it would be broken. And now, I don’t think there’s any way anybody’s gonna break it again. It’s such a difficult thing, but Oklahoma City looked like they were on their way to doing it. But the reason it’s so hard is just you have to have good health — you have to have some luck. And most teams probably aren’t going to push themselves that hard to get there. It’s so difficult. My guess is it won’t be broken.”
Injury Notes: Reid, Giddey, M. Wagner, Alvarado, H. Jones
Big man Naz Reid, who was starting in place of Rudy Gobert, was ruled out after playing just five minutes in Saturday’s loss at San Antonio due to soreness in his left shoulder, the Timberwolves announced (via Twitter).
It’s unclear if Reid, the 2024 Sixth Man of the Year, will miss additional time as a result of the shoulder injury.
The 26-year-old forward/center had been playing some of his best basketball of the season in the four games leading up to Saturday, averaging 21.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.0 steal and 1.0 block per night on .604/.577/.700 shooting during that brief stretch (29.8 minutes per contest).
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Bulls guard Josh Giddey has been assigned to the G League’s Windy City Bulls as he works his way back from a left hamstring strain, per the team (Twitter link). Assuming Sunday’s practice goes well, Giddey should be back in action either Tuesday against the Clippers or Thursday at Minnesota, tweets K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network.
- While there’s no indication that he experienced a setback, Magic center Moritz Wagner was ruled out of Sunday’s game vs. Memphis with what the team called left knee injury management (Twitter link). The German big man just made his season debut last Sunday after missing most of 2024/25 with a torn ACL in his left knee.
- A pair of trade candidates for the Pelicans continue to be sidelined with injuries. Guard Jose Alvarado will miss his seventh consecutive game Sunday at Houston due to a left oblique strain, while forward Herbert Jones remains out with a right ankle sprain (link to injury report). Jones, who made the All-Defensive First Team in 2023/24, will miss his 14th game as a result of the injury.
Mavericks Notes: Christie, Thompson, Williams, Martin
Max Christie returned to action on Saturday and helped spark a Mavericks victory, writes Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com. The 22-year-old guard had missed Dallas’ previous two games because of an illness that has impacted multiple players, Sefko notes.
Christie finished with 22 points (on 7-of-13) shooting, four assists, two rebounds and two steals and was plus-29 in 26 minutes during Saturday’s 18-point win over Utah.
“He’s one of our best shooters and most athletic guys, so offensively, he helps us there,” head coach Jason Kidd said. “But we missed him on the defensive end, too. To get him back from illness is good.
“He just competes (defensively). He’s one of those guys who can go both ways. He can have an impact on defense, too.”
Here’s more on the Mavs:
- Guard/forward Klay Thompson passed Damian Lillard for fourth place on the NBA’s all-time made three-pointers list on Thursday and reached another milestone on Saturday, per Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News. Thompson, who scored 23 points (on 7-of-11 shooting) in 20 minutes, eclipsed 17,000 career points during the victory. “It’s been awesome, especially when I shoot the ball well and we win. What a nice combo,” Thompson said of his historic week.
- Backup guard Brandon Williams, who will be a free agent in the offseason, had another productive game, Curtis adds. The 27-year-old finished with 22 points (on 8-of-13 shooting), five assists, four rebounds and two steals and was plus-30 in 28 minutes.
- While his contributions were fairly modest on Saturday (six rebounds, five assists, three points in 21 minutes), veteran wing Caleb Martin was coming off his best two-game stretch as a Maverick, averaging 14.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 4.5 APG and 3.0 SPG while shooting 83.3% on twos and 60% on threes, Curtis writes in another story. The 30-year-old was slowed by a hip injury for several months, but he says he’s feeling much healthier now compared to the start of the season. “Just thinking less. Feeling better,” said Martin, who has started the past two games in place of Cooper Flagg (sprained ankle). “Just trying to get as much rhythm as I can. … I’m one of the guys who tries to impact as much as I can as quick as I possibly can. It’s not always going to be an offensive mindset first coming into the game so just trying to let the game come to me.”
Kawhi Leonard Out At Least Two More Games With Knee Injury
Star forward Kawhi Leonard is being sent home to Los Angeles for treatment on his injured left knee and will miss the final two games of the Clippers‘ road trip, the team announced (Twitter link via Law Murray of The Athletic). The Clips play at Washington on Monday and at Chicago on Tuesday.
Leonard, who missed Friday’s overtime win in Toronto with a right ankle sprain and left knee contusion, is dealing with irritation in his knee. He will be checked out again when the team returns to Los Angeles on Wednesday.
According to NBA insider Chris Haynes, who first reported the news (Twitter link), Leonard’s knee injury isn’t considered serious. The six-time All-NBA member sustained the contusion in a January 10 victory at Detroit.
The 33-year-old also missed 10 games in November with right foot and ankle injuries. The Clippers are 3-8 without Leonard so far in 2025/26.
Leonard has played at an MVP level during the Clippers’ dramatic turnaround. They were 6-21 on December 18 but have gone 12-2 since, currently holding an 18-23 record, good for the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference.
In 30 games this season (33.8 minutes per contest), Leonard is averaging a career-high 28.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.2 steals, with an excellent .499/.399/.941 shooting line.
Kobe Sanders and Jordan Miller, who are both on two-way contracts, have played important roles for the Clippers recently and are likely to receive more minutes with Leonard out.
Nuggets Notes: Braun, Murray, Hardaway, Gordon, Jokic
Nuggets wing Christian Braun missed seven weeks due to a left ankle injury, didn’t look like his normal self in his three games back earlier this month, and has now missed the past four contests. Head coach David Adelman says Braun didn’t re-injure his ankle or suffer a setback, but instead realized he wasn’t 100% when he returned to action.
“I watch him work out, and he’s going full speed. It’s just, he can’t do everything his body should be able to do right now,” Adelman said, per Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette (Twitter link). “And so I feel like it’s fair to us and to the player for him to come back when he’s really ready to play basketball, not just run up and down the court.
“CB is tough. So him coming back as quick as he did off an injury like that is not surprising. And I think we have to do what’s best for him. I do think it’s a group conversation. Whatever CB communicates, I 100% understand where he’s coming from. That guy likes to play, loves to hoop. And he loves to win.”
Braun said earlier this month that he tore ligaments in his ankle when he initially suffered the injury on November 12. The 24-year-old added that he was unable to walk for several weeks.
Here’s more from Denver:
- The Nuggets trailed the Wizards by seven points early in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game, but Jamal Murray and Tim Hardaway Jr. sparked a comeback victory by combining for 31 points in the final period, Benedetto writes for The Denver Gazette. Murray, who should be a lock to make his first All-Star appearance, had another outstanding outing, finishing with 42 points (on 15-of-24 shooting), six assists, three rebounds, two steals and two blocks in 39 minutes. Hardaway, meanwhile, scored a season-high 30 points (on 10-of-18 shooting) in 36 minutes off the bench. The veteran guard/forward, who is playing on a one-year, minimum-salary contract, is shooting a career-best 41.5% from long distance this season.
- According to Benedetto (Twitter link), Adelman said multiple times after the game that he played Murray and Aaron Gordon (eight points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists in 32 minutes as the starting center) more than he wanted to on Saturday. Benedetto says he wouldn’t be surprised if both players are unavailable for Sunday’s back-to-back against Charlotte.
- Superstar center Nikola Jokic has essentially been acting as an assistant coach since he suffered a knee injury at the end of last month, according to Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. “I think for the young guys, the guys that haven’t played as much, to have a three-time MVP pull you aside and give you confidence, talk to you about what you can do better in this situation (is valuable). … Especially Nikola, who has memorized this league’s playbook,” Adelman said. “It’s absolutely insane. So leadership comes from a million places. Your veteran players are so important. … All these guys that have been through it, and I always say this, not just the successes they’ve had but the failures, too. They’ve been through it, and they can have a commentary that sometimes a coach can’t have with a player.” The Nuggets have gone 7-3 so far without their best player.
Injury Notes: Mavericks, Avdija, Edwards, Gobert, MPJ
The Mavericks will be without eight players for Saturday’s matchup with Utah, the team announced (via Twitter). In addition to Dante Exum, Dereck Lively II, Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis, Cooper Flagg (left ankle sprain), Daniel Gafford (right ankle sprain), D’Angelo Russell (illness) and P.J. Washington (personal reasons) will also be sidelined today.
It’s the second straight missed game for Flagg, the top pick in last year’s draft. The only relatively unexpected absences were Washington, who was initially listed as probable with what the team called right ankle injury management, and Russell, who was a late scratch.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija will miss his third straight game Saturday against the Lakers due to a lower back strain, the team confirmed (Twitter link). Avdija, who suffered the injury on January 11, was initially listed as doubtful. On a brighter note, Jerami Grant and Jrue Holiday are both probable to suit up after initially being considered questionable.
- Star guard Anthony Edwards will return to action on Saturday after a two-game absence due to right foot injury management, per the Timberwolves (Twitter link). Four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert, who is dealing with a left hip contusion, is questionable to play at San Antonio. According to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link), Gobert seemed to be moving OK following Friday’s loss in Houston, but it is a quick turnaround.
- The Nets won’t have Michael Porter Jr. (rest) or Drake Powell (left knee injury management) available for Sunday’s game at Chicago, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Sunday is the front end of a back-to-back for Brooklyn — the team hosts Phoenix on Monday. Porter was also rested under similar circumstances last weekend.
Bulls Notes: Buzelis, Center, Smith, Mediocrity
Matas Buzelis was benched for the entire fourth quarter during Wednesday’s win over Utah and Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune argues the Bulls aren’t placing enough of a priority on the 21-year-old’s development.
Head coach Billy Donovan said the decision to sit Buzelis wasn’t solely on him but on the entire unit that was playing poorly in the third period. However, Donovan reinserted the other four players into the game in the final frame and not Buzelis, Poe writes.
“I am not trying to be vindictive at all,” Donovan said. “I just think that there’s a standard of play — and with that, an understanding that there’s going to be mistakes, right? It’s not so much to teach him a lesson, but there’s certain things he’s got to mentally hold himself accountable to and responsible for.”
The problem with Donovan’s win-at-all-costs approach is the Bulls aren’t good enough for those victories to be meaningful in the long run, Poe contends, whereas giving Buzelis a longer leash could give him a chance to learn from his mistakes like young players on tanking teams are given the opportunity to do.
Here’s more on the Bulls:
- Donovan wants to help Buzelis improve as a player and respects the fact that the second-year forward doesn’t offer excuses when he makes errors, per Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. “I’m just trying to put on him the things that he can control that would impact winning, regardless of if he’s making or missing shots,” Donovan said. “He just kind of can move forward and take the information and figure out where he’s got to get better and how he’s got to get better, and I admire that about him. He’s not a guy that buries his head where you gotta pick him up, ‘Come on, everything is going to be OK.’ You never have to do that with him. He always comes back with, ‘I messed that up, I messed this up, I gotta be better, I’ve got to put my body here.’ I appreciate that. There’s never, ever from him, ‘Well, but this . . .’ Never does that. I think he really utilizes mistakes as a way to grow.”
- The Bulls are interested in adding a young center to their roster and have been looking to fortify the position “for some time,” sources tell Grant Afseth of DallasHoopsJournal.com. Afseth reported on Friday that Chicago has been linked to Yves Missi, whose role with New Orleans has been reduced in his second season. The Bulls currently have Nikola Vucevic and Zach Collins at the five, with Jalen Smith playing both power forward and center. However, Vucevic and Collins, who is currently out with a toe injury, are both on expiring contracts.
- Smith was out of the rotation at the end of last season and he used it as motivation to improve over the summer, according to Cowley, who points out that the 25-year-old big man has the best on/off numbers on the team in 2025/26. “He’s been great for us honestly,” Vucevic said. “Playing the four, playing at the five, different situations, different positions. He’s done a great job for us protecting the paint, rebounding the ball as well, bringing us some physicality. I’ve enjoyed being out on the court with him. I think our two-big lineup helps us, and I think we have good chemistry. Yeah, he’s been doing a lot for us. When ‘Stix’ plays that way and he’s aggressive it makes us a much better team.”
- The Bulls have been remarkably consistent — in a mediocre way — over the past eight half-seasons, observes former Sun-Times writer Mark Potash (Twitter link). In the last eight 41-game spans, the Bulls have gone 19-22 four times, 21-20 twice, and 18-23 and 20-21 once apiece, Potash notes.