Oklahoma City Thunder star Jalen Williams will need to undergo surgery for a broken fibula and sprained left ankle, OKC general manager Sam Presti said Monday. The exact return timeline won’t be known until after surgery, Presti said, but ESPN reported that the injury could be season-ending. It was revealed early Monday that Thunder guard Cason Wallace will also need a hand. Wallace injured his shoulder against the Clippers on Sunday and will undergo a procedure to repair a torn labrum. Valla could also be out for the season, per ESPN, but the Thunder have not given an official timeline on his potential return.
“It was a long night yesterday. There’s no other way to paint,” Presti told reporters.
Williams was taken off the court in a stretcher late in the fourth quarter of the 108-101 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night after suffering a serious leg injury.
With a little more to play, Williams drove to the basket and attempted to go up for a layup. He was sandwiched in mid-air by Kris Dunn and Derrick Jones Jr., which caused him to lose his balance. When he descended to the ground, his left leg was held under the weight of his whole body, and his lower part seemed to break out in the wrong direction.
The Thunder staff immediately covered his leg with a towel as his teammates looked on in distress. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander pulled his jersey over his face as Williams’ leg was thrown into the air and he was loaded onto the bed.
“I just feel bad for him. Nothing more than that,” Gilgeous-Alexander said on the court after the win.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said the team had no immediate update on Williams’ status.
“No big deal,” Daigneault said. “That’s tough on the guys.”
Williams gave the crowd a thumbs up in the hall.
Williams’ coming off season was derailed by injuries
Williams, 25, emerged as a true star in 2025 when he made his first All-Star appearance and earned a spot on the All-NBA Third Team and All-Defensive Second Team before leading the Gilgeous-Alexander Thunder to their first title move away from Oklahoma City. Williams averaged 23.6 points in the 2025 finals and a playoff-career high 40 points to lead the Thunder to a Game 5 win, giving them a 3-2 series lead over the Pacers (OKC won in seven games).
He played through the 2025 playoffs with a wrist injury and underwent surgery last summer to fix the problem, which sidelined him for the first 19 games of last season. Less than two months into his return, he strained his right hamstring and was sidelined for several weeks. He came back, played two games, then sprained his hamstring again and missed another six weeks.
Williams returned shortly before the playoffs last season, but tossed the left hamstring in Game 2 of the Thunder’s first series with the Phoenix Suns. He sat out the rest of that series and pitched the entire second round before returning for the Western Conference finals against the Spurs. After a stellar Game 1, he sprained his left hamstring again in Game 2 and played only 10 more minutes the rest of the series.
When the Thunder lost Game 7 to the Spurs, which ended up getting a replay, he was forced to watch from the bench in his clothes.
What do the injuries to Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace mean for the Thunder and why is the trade not so simple?
Sam Quinn
Williams and Waleys are a major blow to OKC’s title shot
The Thunder made some moves around the edges this offseason – most notably, trading Lu Dort to the Atlanta Hawks – but brought back their entire core and hoped to make another run at a title in the top-heavy Western Conference. Vegas oddsmakers set them up as the preseason favorite to win, and they started the season convincingly beating the Spurs.
Despite a somewhat slow start, Williams averaged 13.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and one steal, and was second on the team in scoring behind Gilgeous-Alexander. CBS Sports ranked Williams as the 20th-best player in the NBA in the annual Top 100 player rankings.
Sunday’s win moved the Clippers to 3-0 over the Thunder, and even without Dort, they have the depth to support Williams’ absence, at least for the season. They won 64 games last season, mostly without Williams. But it will be harder to resist Williams’ absence with Wallace joining him on the board.
Fourth-year guard Wallace had made his way into OKC’s starting lineup. He made the All-Defensive Second Team last season while averaging 8.6 points per game. His emergence was one of the reasons why the Thunder felt comfortable trading a veteran like Dort. Caesar had started in all three games this season before the injury.
Williams’ injury draws comparisons to Hayward’s
The serious nature of Williams’ injury and the reaction from his teammates reminded fans of Gordon Hayward’s injury nine years ago.
Hayward, like Williams, suffered a sprained left ankle and fractured left tibia on opening night of the 2017-18 season in his debut with the Celtics. The rest of that season was gone and he was never the same player. Hayward appeared in 318 more games over six seasons before retiring at age 33.