The Oklahoma City Thunder will be without starters Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace for extended stretches after both underwent surgery to repair injuries they suffered during Sunday’s win over the LA Clippers. Both injuries typically require multiple months of rehabilitation, which puts their availability in doubt for the rest of the season.
Williams and Wallace suffer serious injuries
Thunder general manager Sam Presti announced Monday that Williams, a forward, suffered a fractured fibula and a dislocated left ankle. Wallace suffered a torn labrum in his left shoulder, Presti said.
Presti said the timelines for both players’ returns will be known after the operations.
Williams was injured with 1:14 remaining in the game. He was fouled on a drive and landed awkwardly, his left leg collapsed, and 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, giving the crowd two thumbs-up as he left.
Wallace hurt his shoulder in the first quarter after running into a moving screen set by Clippers center Isaiah Jackson.
A difficult stretch for Williams
Williams, 25, is an All-Star and was an All-NBA selection two seasons ago. He has endured a miserable run of injuries over the past 18 months. He played the entire playoffs during the Thunder’s 2025 championship run despite a torn ligament in his right (shooting) wrist that required surgery, and he scored 40 points in the pivotal Game 5 win over the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals.
Recovery from the wrist surgery caused him to miss the first 19 games of last season. Recurring strains to both hamstrings then ruined the rest of his campaign. He appeared in 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’s rise and new contract
Wallace, 22, earned All-Defensive honors last season. He signed a five-year, $139 million contract extension last week. He 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 stresses optimism
Speaking at a news conference at the Paycom Center on Monday evening, Presti acknowledged the situation’s difficulty while expressing hope for both players.
“We’ll wrap our arms around these guys,” Presti 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: “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, realize we’re dealing with people.”
Presti 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.”