Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams will have surgery to repair a fractured fibula and a dislocated left ankle, general manager Sam Presti said Monday. Presti said a firm return timeline will not be clear until after the operation, though ESPN reported the injury could end Williams' season.
Presti also revealed that guard Cason Wallace needs surgery. Wallace hurt his shoulder in Sunday's game against the Clippers and will have a procedure to repair a torn labrum. ESPN reported he could miss the rest of the season too, but the team has not given an official timeline. "Tough night last night. There's no way to paint that differently," Presti told reporters.
Williams was carried off the court on a stretcher late in the fourth quarter of Oklahoma City's 108-101 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night. With a little over a minute left, he drove toward the basket and went up for a dunk. Kris Dunn and Derrick Jones Jr. closed in on him in mid-air, and he lost his balance. When he landed, his left leg was trapped beneath his body, and the lower part of it appeared to bend the wrong way.
Thunder trainers quickly covered the leg with towels while teammates watched in visible distress. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander pulled his jersey over his face as Williams' leg was put in an air cast and he was placed on the stretcher. Williams gave the crowd a thumbs-up as he was wheeled away. "I just feel bad for him. Nothing more than that," Gilgeous-Alexander said on the court after the win. Coach Mark Daigneault said the team had no immediate update. "We're not doing great," he said. "That's tough on the guys."
Williams, 25, broke through in 2025, earning his first All-Star selection, a spot on the All-NBA Third Team and a place on the All-Defensive Second Team. He then helped Gilgeous-Alexander lead the Thunder to their first title since the franchise moved to Oklahoma City. He averaged 23.6 points in the 2025 Finals and scored a playoff-career-high 40 in Game 5 against the Pacers, a win that put Oklahoma City up 3-2 in a series it won in seven games.
Injuries have followed him since. He played through a wrist problem in the 2025 playoffs and had surgery last summer, missing the first 19 games of last season. He later strained his right hamstring, returned, played two games and tweaked it again, costing him another six weeks. He strained his left hamstring in Game 2 of the first round against the Phoenix Suns, missed the second round, and returned for the Western Conference Finals against the Spurs. After a strong Game 1, he aggravated the left hamstring in Game 2 and played only 10 more minutes in the series. He watched Game 7, a loss that ended the Thunder's bid to repeat, from the bench in street clothes.
The timing is a blow for a team that kept its core together this offseason, with Lu Dort's trade to the Atlanta Hawks the most notable change. Oddsmakers made Oklahoma City the preseason title favorite, and the Thunder opened with a convincing win over the Spurs. Sunday's victory moved them to 3-0. Williams was averaging 13.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and one steal, second on the team in scoring behind Gilgeous-Alexander.
Wallace, a fourth-year guard, had earned a place in the starting lineup and started all three games this season. He made the All-Defense Second Team last season while averaging 8.6 points per game, and his growth was one reason the Thunder were comfortable trading Dort. The team won 64 games last season largely without Williams, but losing Wallace as well will make the depth harder to sustain.
The severity of Williams' injury and his teammates' reactions reminded many fans of Gordon Hayward's injury nine years ago. Hayward dislocated his left ankle and fractured his left tibia on opening night of the 2017-18 season in his Celtics debut. He missed the rest of that season, was never the same player, and retired at 33 after appearing in 318 more games over six seasons.
