Thunder Notes: Williams, McCain, Bench, Presti
The Thunder are heading into San Antonio with a tied series and a question mark hanging over their All-NBA wing, Jalen Williams, who is currently listed as day-to-day with a left hamstring injury and is questionable to play on Friday.
Whether Williams returns for Game 3 or misses the rest of the series, the Thunder should still feel good about their chances to beat the Spurs and advance to the NBA Finals, Joe Mussatto writes for The Oklahoman. That’s partly because of the injuries facing the Spurs’ backcourt, as both De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper are questionable for Game 3. It’s also because the Thunder are, by now, experienced in winning without Williams.
“Obviously if we don’t have him it hurts,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I still believe in this team, though. Like you said, we played a bunch of games without him, won big games without him, but I still think we can get the job done. But yeah, losing a guy like that, a caliber of player like that, no matter how good your team is otherwise, it hurts a little bit. And also for him as a human being. He had a tough year with injuries.”
While Williams is a more accomplished, experienced player than Harper, Mussatto posits that in this particular matchup, Harper might be more important to the Spurs’ game plan than Williams is to the Thunder’s, especially if Fox remains out.
We have more notes from the Thunder:
- While Jared McCain is known for his three-point shooting, as well as his TikTok dances, he knows that to play in this hard-fought series, he will need to tap into a more gritty skill set. “Anything I can do. Shot’s not falling, I want to stay on the court no matter what,” he said, per Jordan Davis of The Oklahoman (video link). “So if I can make some hustle plays, get some rebounds, anything I can to stay in the floor I wanna do.” McCain contributed four offensive rebounds, three assists, and two steals in his 26 minutes during Game 2, bringing a level of hustle that seemed to help energize the team even though he shot just 4-of-14 from the field.
- McCain isn’t the only Thunder reserve who understands what it will take to earn minutes at the highest level. The Thunder’s bench is deep with players who stay ready for their number to be called, Justin Martinez writes for The Oklahoman. That includes Cason Wallace, Ajay Mitchell, and Alex Caruso, the last of whom has been integral to the team’s success so far this season. “I think it’s just a team that, one through 15, everyone is always ready,” Mitchell said. “Everyone really buys into it. I feel like every time we put someone in, he’s going to have an impact, which is huge.” Caruso, who has two championships to his name and is looking for a third, said that having that mindset is a prerequisite for achieving what the team hopes to achieve. “It’s that time of year,” he said. “If you’re not fearless, then you’re probably gonna lose and go home. You’ve got to lay it all out on the line if you want to win. If you want to win big, at least. If you want to win the last game of the season, which I do. Every time that I’m here, I want to win the last one. For me, it’s pretty easy to get myself going and lock into that mentality.”
- When general manager Sam Presti recruited Isaiah Hartenstein as a free agent, there was little in the way of flash, despite the fact that he would eventually offer the German center the largest free agent contract in Thunder history. Instead, Presti focused on what really mattered to him: the team identity he had spent years building. “I can’t promise you minutes,” Presti told Hartenstein, per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. “I can’t promise you a role. But I can promise you a culture.” After losing to the Mavericks in the second round of the 2024 playoffs, Presti didn’t panic or go star-hunting. Instead, he focused on bringing in the kinds of players who would enhance the stars already on the roster: Hartenstein, for one. Caruso, for another. It’s a decision that has been felt and appreciated throughout the organization. “Sam has passed on talents to get human beings,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “That mindset has really helped this group. It’s a big reason why we all get along so well and have this chemistry that everyone talks about. Sam brings a certain type of person in here.” Those two players proved crucial in Oklahoma City’s first title run last season, and have been equally critical this postseason, as they’ve hit timely shots, played physical defense against the likes of Victor Wembanyama, and made the hustle plays that set the Thunder’s hard-nosed defense apart.
Thunder Notes: Caruso, Gilgeous-Alexander, McCain, Accountability
The Thunder boast a two-time MVP guard, an All-Star big man, and an All-NBA wing, but through two games of the Western Conference Finals, 32-year-old backup guard Alex Caruso has been the key to unlocking the team’s potential on both ends of the court, Kelly Iko writes for Yahoo Sports.
A year after showing his versatility by defending Nikola Jokic in the playoffs, Caruso has been tasked, at times, with guarding Spurs star Victor Wembanyama. Even more importantly, he has shown no fear in attacking the first-ever unanimous Defensive Player of the Year on offense, even as some of his teammates shied away from the large barrier Wembanyama represents.
“He’s got an unbelievable focus and is a monster competitor,” said coach Mark Daigneault said of Caruso. “It seems like the bigger the moment, the bigger the game, the more he wants to compete in it. And he’ll fail and not blink, and he’ll be aggressive in the next possession, next game and he was huge again tonight. His minutes were massive for us.”
With Jalen Williams limited by injuries and Ajay Mitchell and Chet Holmgren working themselves into a rhythm, Caruso has stepped up offensively. Through two games, he is the series’ third-leading scorer behind the two teams’ respective MVP finalists, averaging 24.0 points per contest while hitting 11 of his 18 threes.
Caruso’s ability to guard up in the lineup also has downstream effects on the Thunder’s offense, as they are able to play more guards alongside him, thereby injecting much-needed shooting and ball-handling as the team searches for creases in San Antonio’s imposing defense.
“His leadership is over the roof, honestly, especially on the [defensive] end of the floor,” Luguentz Dort said. “He communicates a lot. He’s really smart as a player and watches a lot of basketball as well. So he knows a lot of plays and the tricks we need to get stops defensively. Able to read the game well and he’s been amazing.”
Whether he can keep up the hot shooting remains to be seen, but with Williams being listed as day-to-day after leaving Game 2 early with a hamstring injury and Mitchell also suffering an injury scare, Caruso’s responsibilities are unlikely to decrease as the series progresses.
We have more from the Thunder:
- After an uncharacteristically quiet performance in the Game 1 loss, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander put together the kind of MVP performance fans have come to expect from him in Game 2, Joel Lorenzi writes for The Athletic. “I guess I just have sucked when I get too long of a break,” he said. “I don’t think it’s anything other than that. I don’t know. I guess I gotta do a better job with my breaks, especially during the playoffs.” Instead of playing into the Spurs’ coverages, Gilgeous-Alexander found ways to get to his spots and stopped letting Stephon Castle‘s rugged defense get to him. “We just had no choice but to play to our strengths,” he said, “or else.”
- If you just looked at the efficiency, it would be easy to miss Jared McCain‘s impact on Game 2, Lorenzi writes. Although McCain made just 4-of-14 shots from the floor, his energy and hustle were clearly infectious as he played his way to 12 points, six rebounds, and two steals in 26 minutes. This is nothing unusual for a player who has quickly ingratiated himself with his Thunder teammates due to his outsized personality, Marc J. Spears writes for Andscape. “The first week or two that he was here felt like he had been here the whole season,” Dort said of McCain. “That is the type of guy he is. That is the type of locker room we have. Really funny and really loud, and he blended in with everyone really quick.” It’s not just about his off-court personality, though. “That translates to his game as well,” Caruso added. “He is constantly moving on offense, which is manipulating the defense. He’s starting to pick up some of our other principles. He picked up a big offensive rebound tonight.”
- The Thunder have built a juggernaut based on the principles of precision, attention to detail, and accountability, writes Dan Woike of The Athletic. On a roster as loaded with NBA-level talent as Oklahoma City’s, players have had to find roles they can thrive in, even if that feels like a sacrifice. Cason Wallace is a good example of that trait: there are 20 players from the 2023 draft class that are averaging more points per game than the former 10th overall pick, but those guys aren’t playing critical minutes in the Western Conference finals, as he is. Even when Wallace isn’t on the floor, though, he knows what is expected of him. “Honestly, you just go out there and be who you are,” the defensive-minded point guard said. “If it’s your night then, you know, it’s your night, and we’re all gonna be excited, and we’re all gonna put our best foot forward. But when it’s somebody else’s night, we also understand that and we cheer them on.”
- While that sounds good in theory, Daigneault and the players know that it’s one thing for players to talk about accountability, but quite another to buy into it. “There’s a collective understanding of where the bar is,” Holmgren said, per Woike. “And it’s human nature is to be imperfect. Nobody’s gonna be perfect. I might shoot a shot where it’s ‘S–t, I ain’t shot one in a while.’ Human nature is ‘OK, let me get one up’ … But there’s an understanding that there’s human nature, that nobody’s gonna be perfect. But there’s also an understanding if somebody sees you drifting, hey, we’re gonna pull you back in.”
Jalen Williams Day-To-Day With Hamstring Injury
Jalen Williams is day-to-day with a left hamstring injury and will be reevaluated by the Thunder one game at a time, Shams Charania reports for ESPN (via Twitter).
This is the second time in the last month that Williams has dealt with a left hamstring issue, and his return will be largely dependent on how the injury responds to treatment. The previous injury caused him to miss approximately three weeks, including the entire second-round series against the Lakers.
Williams returned from that injury for a brutally taxing double-overtime Game 1 against the Spurs, in which he played over 37 minutes and scored 26 points while often taking the Victor Wembanyama defensive assignment.
Whether or not that game took a toll, the All-NBA wing left Game 2 after just seven minutes to receive treatment on the leg and was later ruled out for the rest of the night. It was subsequently reported that he would undergo an MRI, as would Spurs guard Dylan Harper, who also left the game early.
While Charania’s update doesn’t offer any sort of concrete return timeline for Williams, it may be an encouraging sign that he’s being considered day-to-day rather than week-to-week, as was the case after he sustained his previous hamstring injury.
Game 3 will take place on Friday in San Antonio, with Game 4 to follow on Sunday.
Jalen Williams, Dylan Harper To Undergo MRIs After Game 2 Exits
Thunder forward Jalen Williams and Spurs guard Dylan Harper both left Game 2 of the Western Conference finals early on Wednesday due to hamstring injuries, according to reports from Tim MacMahon of ESPN and Michael C. Wright of ESPN.
Williams was on the floor for just over seven minutes in the first quarter before checking out and receiving treatment on his left hamstring. The Thunder announced in the third quarter that Williams wouldn’t return to the game due to hamstring tightness.
The hamstring in question is the same one that Williams strained earlier in the playoffs, forcing him to miss the last two games of Oklahoma City’s first-round series vs. Phoenix and the entire second-round series vs. the Lakers. The 25-year-old, who scored 26 points in 37 minutes in his return to action on Monday, will undergo an MRI to determine whether he has strained the hamstring again, a source tells MacMahon.
“He’s going to get checked out,” head coach Mark Daigneault told reporters after the game. “I don’t deal in like hypotheticals, especially when doctors are involved. … We’ll see where he’s at. We’ll update him accordingly.”
While Ajay Mitchell made six starts in place of Williams earlier in the postseason, it was Cason Wallace who opened the second half of Game 2 alongside the rest of Oklahoma City’s usual starters. Both players could be in line for increased roles if Williams is forced to miss more time. Mitchell went down late in the fourth quarter with an apparent leg injury and received medical treatment on the bench, but he said after the game that he just got hit in the thigh and should be fine going forward, per Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The Spurs, meanwhile, had already been without starting point guard De’Aaron Fox due to a high ankle sprain and are now in danger of his replacement, Harper, missing time too. The rookie standout exited in the third quarter and didn’t return due to what appeared to be a right hamstring injury. He’ll undergo an MRI on Thursday in San Antonio, sources tell Wright.
Harper was excellent in Game 1 in Fox’s place, racking up 24 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and seven steals in a season-high 47 minutes of action. In Game 2, he registered 12 points, three assists, and two rebounds in 25 minutes before being forced to the sidelines.
As for Fox, he took part in pregame warmups prior to each of the first two games of the Western finals and the Spurs were said to be hopeful about his chances of returning for Game 2, but he was ultimately held out of both contests in Oklahoma City.
“He’s just trying to play every day,” head coach Mitch Johnson said. “It’s a tough injury that he wouldn’t be playing with in the regular season. So, he’s trying to tough it out. He did that in Minnesota. He had an awkward landing. So, he reaggravated it. We’ve just got to make sure he’s in a place that he can be out there and compete to the level that he would need to in the game that we’re playing.”
If Fox and Harper are both unable to play on Friday, the Spurs would have to lean more heavily on Stephon Castle and veteran reserve Jordan McLaughlin. Castle has struggled to maintain control of the ball against the Thunder, turning it over 11 times in Game 1 and nine times in Game 2. Still, the Spurs remain confident in his ability to operate as the team’s primary ball-handler.
“Steph is a dog,” teammate Keldon Johnson said. “He’ll figure it out. We support him every step of the way. [He] turned the ball over. We all turn the ball over. It’s not just on Steph.”
As for McLaughlin, he averaged a career-low 6.4 minutes per game in 44 regular season appearances and hasn’t been in the playoff rotation, but his teammates aren’t concerned about the possibility of him playing an expanded role, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). The veteran point guard had six points in seven minutes in Game 2.
“Every single time J-Mac comes in, he makes the right play, hits a big shot,” Spurs forward Devin Vassell said after Wednesday’s game. “As soon as he came in (tonight), he wasn’t even warm yet and he hits a three. He’s steady. If he needs to come in and play, I don’t think anybody is worried or concerned.”
Jalen Williams Available For Game 1 Of Western Finals
May 17: Williams isn’t listed on the injury report for Monday’s matchup against the Spurs, per Rylan Stiles of SI.com. That means the one-time All-Star will be available for the Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.
May 15: Thunder star Jalen Williams provided an update on his return from a left hamstring strain on Friday via his YouTube channel, as Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman relays.
Williams, who suffered the injury a few weeks ago in first-round series against Phoenix, said the second-round sweep of the Lakers gave him extra time to recover. The 25-year-old was spotted at Friday’s practice then released the vlog update later in the day, Martinez notes.
“I haven’t had to rush back from my hamstring stuff at all,” Williams said. “I’m actually taking extra days now then what was even originally planned because we were up 3-0 (on the Lakers), so there was no point in going into this series and possibly hurting myself before we have to play the Timberwolves or the Spurs. I’m about to go into another series healthy.”
The fourth-year wing was limited to a career-low 33 regular season appearances in 2025/26 due to offseason wrist surgery and a pair of right hamstring strains. He last played on April 22, when he injured his opposite hamstring in Game 2 vs. the Suns.
Williams, whose rookie scale max extension begins in 2026/27, averaged 17.1 points, 5.5 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 28.4 minutes per game during the regular season. He was excellent in the first two games against the Suns, averaging 20.5 PPG, 5.0 APG, 4.0 RPG and 1.0 SPG while shooting 61.5% from the field in 26.0 MPG.
Ajay Mitchell was Oklahoma City’s secondary ball-handler and attacker with Williams out, but he should still receive plenty of playing time in the conference finals even if Williams is back, according to Martinez. The Thunder are still waiting to learn their opponent; San Antonio currently holds a 3-2 lead over Minnesota ahead of Friday’s Game 6.
Thunder Notes: Mitchell, SGA, Wallace, Joe, Lottery
With the Lakers holding reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in check, a new star is emerging for the Thunder, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Second-year guard Ajay Mitchell, who wasn’t part of OKC’s rotation during its march to the title last season, had 24 points, 10 assists and no turnovers on Saturday as his team grabbed a 3-0 series lead with another dominant victory.
“I think the biggest thing for me was just going out there and being confident,” Mitchell said. “I know what I can do. When I go out there, I just want to compete and help this team win and play freely.”
Mitchell, who finished fifth in the Sixth Man of the Year voting, is only starting because Jalen Williams is sidelined with a Grade 1 hamstring strain. He has been a difference-maker in the first three games of the series, averaging 20.7 points, 6.7 assists and 1.0 turnovers while connecting at 53.3% from the field. He has also been the primary defender on Austin Reaves, who hasn’t shot well for most of the series.
“He’s just finding his footing,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s obviously his first run in the playoffs. It’s obviously a different ballgame. He’s just getting more and more comfortable as the game goes on, as the series goes on. I said this before, he had a rough [Game 2 in Phoenix], but he was so confident out there. I was never worried that he was going to figure it out, and he’s showing that.”
There’s more on the Thunder:
- L.A.’s focus on controlling Gilgeous-Alexander has been effective, even though Oklahoma City is finding other ways to win, MacMahon adds. SGA finished with 23 points in Game 3, but was uncharacteristically inefficient, making just seven of his 20 shots. The Lakers are using former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart to deny him the ball and then employing double teams whenever it does come to him. “Obviously, I haven’t been my best in performances, but I think I’ve been able to help the team win and that’s most important,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “As long as we win. If the rest of the playoff run or the rest of my career look like what it looked like the past few games, I’d be OK with it because we won games.”
- Mitchell could become one of the league’s biggest bargains over the next couple of years, notes Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. As the 38th pick in the 2024 draft, he’s already the lowest-paid player on the roster at $3MM, and his salary falls to $2.85MM next season with a team option for the same amount for 2027/28. He’ll be extension-eligible by that point, and Mussatto expects the Thunder to reward him with a long-term contract that’s more in line with his production.
- Cason Wallace, who posted the highest-scoring playoff performance of his career with 12 points in Game 2, nearly exceeded it in the first quarter on Saturday, notes Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman. The third-year guard scored 11 points in the quarter by hitting all four of his shots, including three from beyond the arc, before finishing with 16. Isaiah Joe, who was losing playing time to Jared McCain earlier in the series, added 12 points and went 4-of-6 from three-point range.
- The Thunder, who already have the deepest roster in the league, could get even better with some lottery luck Sunday afternoon. They own the Clippers’ selection at No. 12, giving them a 1.5% chance to land the top overall pick and a 7.1% chance to finish in the top four, as we outlined in our lottery primer.
Thunder Notes: Holmgren, Hartenstein, McCain, Mitchell
The Thunder‘s big man combination of Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein didn’t get off to a promising start, writes Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. OKC added Hartenstein in free agency in the summer of 2024 after being badly outrebounded by Dallas in the conference semifinals. but because of injuries to both players, they weren’t able to get on the court together until February of that season. When they did, Mussatto describes their fit together as “clunky.”
“The first couple games, we didn’t think it was really going to work out,” Hartenstein said.
At 7’1″, Holmgren had been a center all his life, but he moved to power forward to accommodate Hartenstein’s physical presence inside. Although the team was initially more effective using one big man at a time, they eventually figured out how to work together, leading the Thunder to the NBA title last year and a 6-0 mark in this year’s playoffs following a 64-win season.
Coach Mark Daigneault, who oversaw the partnership, always believed it would be successful.
“We were pretty confident it could work, because the goal is to get your best players on the court, and they’re two of our best players,” Daigneault said. “It’s our job to figure out how to make that work, and we have a team that dances with us on that. And ultimately their heart being in it is important. It doesn’t matter what we’re doing — if they’re not fully invested in it, it’s not gonna work.”
There’s more on the Thunder:
- Jared McCain has been a perfect addition to Oklahoma City’s backcourt since being acquired from Philadelphia at the deadline, Mussatto adds in another Oklahoman story. The second-year guard has posted career playoff scoring highs in the past two games, and his 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting on Thursday helped the Thunder pull away. “I just think there’s certain qualities a player has that resonate with this particular locker room,” Daigneault replied when asked about McCain’s ability to adapt to the team in midseason. “Professionalism is one of them. Commitment to your craft is another one. Competitiveness, the willingness to compete and the willingness to play inside of the team. If you do those things on this team, you earn pretty immediate respect.”
- Ajay Mitchell has scored 18 and 20 points in the first two games of the series while filling in for the injured Jalen Williams, per Mussatto and Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman. Williams is dealing with a Grade 1 hamstring strain that has sidelined him since Game 2 of the first-round series with Phoenix, and he was ruled out for tonight’s contest.
- Meeting with reporters before Game 3, Lakers coach JJ Redick talked about the challenge of matching up with the Thunder’s depth, relays Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic (Twitter link). “The (Nikola) Topic kid has dealt with some health stuff, and their rookie (Thomas Sorber) is dealing with coming back from his offseason surgery,” Redick said. “Literally the other 13 guys are all top seven or eight rotation players in the NBA on any team. So they can just hit you with bodies. Just the nature of how they built that team.”
Lakers Notes: Doncic, Ayton, Smart, Kennard, LeBron
Although various reporters have provided updates on Luka Doncic‘s status as he recovers from a hamstring strain – including ESPN’s Shams Charania referring to him over the weekend as “week to week” – the Lakers haven’t offered many hints about when they expect the star guard back — or even if they think he’ll return at all before their season is over.
As Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops writes, head coach JJ Redick simply told reporters after Sunday’s practice that there’s “no update” on Doncic. On Monday, the Lakers formally ruled him out for Tuesday’s Game 1, while the Thunder did the same with injured forward Jalen Williams, who is dealing with a left hamstring injury of his own, per Cliff Brunt of The Associated Press.
In a roundtable discussing the series, Justin Martinez, Joe Mussatto, and Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman suggest that Williams – who suffered a Grade 1 strain compared to a Grade 2 strain for Doncic – is probably ahead of Luka in the recovery process. However, The Oklahoman’s trio also suggests that the Thunder don’t necessarily need Williams back to win this series, whereas it’s hard to imagine the Lakers having a legitimate shot if Doncic doesn’t play.
Still, Redick remains confident in his team, noting that its success down the stretch of the regular season and in the first round wasn’t about the contributions of a single player.
“I remember there was a press conference that we did after one of our games during our 16-2 stretch,” Redick said after the Lakers closed out Houston on Friday, per Benjamin Royer of the Southern California News Group. “And you guys were like really hammering home a point about a specific player. … I said, ‘The reason our team is winning is because of our team, because each guy is starring in his role and contributing to winning.’ And that’s the story of this playoff series for us, where each guy had moments that helped us win the game.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- If the Lakers are going to have a legitimate chance to upset the Thunder, they’ll need a huge series from former No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton, the player who “changes our ceiling the most,” according to Redick. Ayton said his goal against the defending champions is to play “bigger” and to be “relentless on the glass,” writes Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times.
- Marcus Smart is another key contributor for Los Angeles, and he and Ayton have been linked together all season after accepting buyouts and then joining the Lakers on discounted deals that feature second-year player option, notes Dan Woike of The Athletic. “We’re both trying to get our names back into the good graces of the basketball gods and just show what we still can do,” Smart said of himself and Ayton.
- Melissa Rohlin of the California Post identifies Luke Kennard as the Lakers’ X-factor in the second round, arguing that the sharpshooter needs to be less deferential and look to recapture his shooting touch after scoring just 11 points on 4-of-18 shooting in the final three games of the first round. Kennard is on an expiring contract, so a strong performance vs. the Thunder could help earn him a stronger payday in free agency.
- In an interesting story for ESPN.com, Dave McMenamin shares several highlights from an ongoing conversation he maintained with Lakers star LeBron James in eight cities across the entire 2025/26 season. The wide-ranging discussion includes McMenamin doing his best to get James’ thoughts on how he stacks up to Michael Jordan. “I never have compared myself to MJ because our games are totally different,” LeBron said. “I have been a point-forward/forward-point my whole life. I have always looked for the pass. MJ kind of looked for the shot. Not kind of, he did. He looked for the shot. There are a lot of things where I would say my game is a lot different and a little better than his, but s–t, he was f—ing great. We’re both great. We’re both great basketball players.”
Thunder Notes: Williams, Mitchell, Joe, 2007 Trade
The news that Jalen Williams suffered a left hamstring strain and will be evaluated on a weekly basis was a discouraging development for the Thunder forward after he got off to such a strong start in the playoffs. However, head coach Mark Daigneault actually considers the diagnosis a “relatively positive development,” Joe Mussatto writes for The Oklahoman.
Daigneault believes that the injury – described as a Grade 1 (mild) strain – could’ve been much worse and said that Williams will travel with the team to Phoenix on Friday instead of staying in Oklahoma City and rehabbing.
Williams missed considerable time this season with hamstring injuries in his right leg, but he looked like his old self in the first two games of the first-round series against the Suns, averaging 20.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists in just 26.0 minutes per game.
It remains to be seen if he’ll be available in the second round, assuming Oklahoma City advances.
We have more from the Thunder:
- With Williams out, second-year guard Ajay Mitchell will likely step into a larger role for the Thunder, Mussatto writes. Mitchell had 14 points, five rebounds, five assists, and two steals in Game 2, and has proven all season that his game is mature beyond its years, especially considering he missed much of his rookie year due to injury. “He was on track to be a rotation player for us last season in the playoffs before the injury,” Daigneault said. “He’s obviously a very talented player, but he’s also a very high-execution player.” While Mitchell is the only player outside of Williams, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Chet Holmgren to average more than 25 minutes per game so far this series, Mussatto expects Cason Wallace to step into the starting lineup while Mitchell plays a significant role off the bench.
- Isaiah Joe is listed as out for Game 3 due to personal reasons, Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman notes (Twitter link). Joe had a career-best year for the Thunder this season, averaging 11.1 points per game and hitting 42.3% of his threes, both personal bests. Through two playoff contests, he is averaging 7.5 points in 17.5 minutes per night and has hit 5-of-15 (33.3%) three-point attempts. He has yet to attempt a two-pointer or free throw in the series.
- A trade 19 years ago is still paying dividends for the Thunder as they attempt to repeat as champions, Baxter Holmes writes for ESPN. Holmes details how a 2007 sign-and-trade of Rashard Lewis from the SuperSonics to the Magic created a trade exception that the Thunder used to add Kurt Thomas, along with two first-round picks, one of which became Serge Ibaka. Ibaka was sent out in a deal for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, who were later flipped for Paul George, whose move to the Clippers sent Gilgeous-Alexander and several first-rounders (including one that became Williams) to OKC.
Jalen Williams Out With Grade 1 Hamstring Strain
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.”