The Oklahoma City Thunder will be without starters Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace for extended stretches after both underwent surgery to repair injuries suffered in Sunday’s win over the LA Clippers.
Thunder general manager Sam Presti announced on Monday that Williams, a forward, suffered a fractured fibula and dislocated left ankle. Wallace suffered a torn labrum in his left shoulder. Presti said the timelines for both players’ returns would be known after the operations. Both injuries typically require multiple months of rehabilitation, which puts the availability of Williams and Wallace in doubt for the rest of the season.
Williams suffers gruesome injury
Williams was injured after being fouled on a drive and landing awkwardly with 1:14 remaining in the game. His left leg collapsed, and his ankle was bent at an unnatural angle. Medical staff rushed to attend to him while his teammates and Clippers players reacted in shock. Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander buried his face in his jersey and bent down near Williams.
Williams was placed on a stretcher and wheeled off the court to a standing ovation. He gave the crowd two thumbs-up as he was taken off. The 25-year-old, an All-Star and All-NBA selection two seasons ago, has endured a miserable run of injury misfortune over the past 18 months.
Williams played the entire playoffs during the Thunder’s 2025 championship run despite a torn ligament in his right (shooting) wrist that required surgery. He scored 40 points in the pivotal Game 5 win over the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals. The recovery from the wrist surgery caused him to miss the first 19 games of last season, and recurring strains to both hamstrings ruined the rest of his campaign. He was limited to only 33 regular-season games and sat out 10 of Oklahoma City’s 15 playoff games, exiting three other games early. Williams is in the first season of a five-year, $239 million maximum contract he signed after the championship.
Wallace also out after shoulder injury
Wallace, who signed a five-year, $139 million contract extension last week, injured his shoulder in the first quarter against the Clippers. He went down after running into a moving screen set by Clippers centre Isaiah Jackson.
The 22-year-old earned All-Defensive honours last season and moved into the starting lineup on a regular basis after the Thunder traded Luguentz Dort to the Atlanta Hawks in a cost-cutting move over the summer.
Presti optimistic about recovery
Speaking at a news conference at the Paycom Center on Monday evening, Presti struck a cautiously positive tone. “We’ll wrap our arms around these guys,” he said. “We’ll get them back, we’ll get them healthy, but we got a lot of basketball to play in front of us. We got to put it together, figure out what the next steps are because this is part of the business that we’re in.”
Presti added: “Not going to sit up here and say this is exactly where we want to be or this is how we’d like to have it, but at the same time, we are extremely optimistic about the recovery for both players. Most importantly, things could have been a lot worse. I think in these types of situations, it’s important to kind of take stock, take a step back, realise we’re dealing with people.”
He concluded: “They’re going to be back out there. They’re going to be playing for our team. They’ll be representing our city and our state in short order.”