The Thunder will be without one of their stars for their biggest game of the season thus far.
Oklahoma City shooting guard Jalen Williams has been ruled out for Game 7 of the Western Conference finals against the Spurs with a left hamstring sprain, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Friday.
Williams, 25, initially suffered the injury during Game 2 of the Thunder’s first-round series against the Suns.
Despite missing the Thunder’s next six games following the injury, the swingman returned for Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.
Williams put up 26 points and seven rebounds while playing 37 minutes in the series opener, but left Game 2 after playing just seven minutes due to re-aggravating the lingering injury.
After missing the following three games, Williams retuned for Game 6, but saw just 10 minutes of action and took only one shot during the Thunder’s 118-91 loss to San Antonio.
During Thursday’s Game 6 loss, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said that Williams’ Game 7 status would be up to him and how his body is responding to the ongoing injury, The Athletic reported.
“He’s been hellbent on trying to get himself to this point. I give him credit,” Daigneault said. “He’s a big team guy, big competitor. He’s obviously not 100%. He didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know what to expect.
“So it was a matter of getting him out there in an insulated role and see what he could bring to the team. … He hasn’t done a full return to play the way that he would.”
Injuries have already derailed Williams’ fourth year in the NBA, with the All-Star missing time to start the 2025-26 season recovering from a wrist injury, along with a right hamstring strain causing him to be sidelined for roughly 30 regular season games.
In just 33 games played this season, Williams, averaged 17.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 5.5 assists while shooting 48.4 percent from the field.
