Oklahoma City Thunder starters Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace will both miss extended periods after undergoing surgery to repair injuries suffered during Sunday’s win over the LA Clippers. Forward Williams suffered a fractured fibula and dislocated left ankle, while guard Wallace tore the labrum in his left shoulder, general manager Sam Presti announced on Monday.
Presti said the timelines for both players’ returns will not be known until after the operations. Both injuries typically require multiple months of rehabilitation, which puts the availability of Williams and Wallace in doubt for the remainder of the season.
Williams suffers gruesome injury
Williams was fouled on a drive and landed awkwardly with 1:14 remaining in the game. His left leg collapsed, and his ankle bent at an unnatural angle. Medical personnel rushed to attend to him as his teammates and Clippers players reacted in shock. Oklahoma City 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 stretch 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 delivered a 40-point performance 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 in the wake of the title.
Wallace hurt on screen
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 Oklahoma City traded Luguentz Dort to the Atlanta Hawks in a cost-cutting move over the summer.
Presti outlines the path forward
Speaking at a news conference at the Paycom Center on Monday evening, Presti acknowledged the difficulty of the situation. “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,” Presti said. “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.”
Presti also pledged support for the players. “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.” He added: “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.”