Oklahoma City Thunder starters Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace will both miss extended time after undergoing surgery to repair injuries they suffered during Sunday’s win over the LA Clippers.
Thunder general manager Sam Presti announced Monday that Williams suffered a fractured fibula and a dislocated left ankle. Wallace suffered a torn labrum in his left shoulder. Presti said the timelines for both players’ returns will 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 with 1:14 remaining in the game. He was fouled on a drive and landed awkwardly, and his left leg collapsed with his ankle bent at an unnatural angle. Medical personnel rushed to attend to him while his teammates and Clippers players reacted in shock. 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. Williams, 25, was an All-Star and All-NBA selection two seasons ago, and he has endured a miserable stretch of injury misfortune over the past 18 months.
Williams played the entire 2025 playoffs during the Thunder’s 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 played only 33 regular-season games and sat out 10 of Oklahoma City’s 15 playoff games, exiting three others early. Williams is in the first season of a five-year, $239 million maximum contract he signed after the championship.
Wallace Also Hurt Against Clippers
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 center Isaiah Jackson.
Wallace, 22, was an All-Defensive selection last season. He 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 Addresses 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 during a news conference at the Paycom Center on Monday evening. “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, realize we’re dealing with people.”
“We’ll wrap our arms around these guys,” Presti added. “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. … 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.”