The Oklahoma City Thunder are certainly praying for the best for Jalen Williams after a horrific ankle dislocation injury on Sunday night.
Popular sports doctor, Dr. Brian Sutterer, explained what the team and its fanbase should expect from Jalen Williams’ recovery.
According to Sutterer, Williams’ injury is very similar to what happened to Gordon Hayward when he was playing with the Boston Celtics in 2017.
“This is very similar to what we saw happen with Gordon Hayward a number of NBA seasons ago,” he said on his YouTube channel.
Sports Doctor Explains Jalen Williams’ Injury
Sutterer then explained the injury, and he expects a dislocation and fracture after the MRI.
“What we see happen here with Jalen Williams, the long and short of this is I’m concerned about an ankle fracture-dislocation. We can see, obviously, anytime somebody is taken off the court on a stretcher, we see the towel thrown over right away. This is a serious injury,” he said.
Sutterer is not writing Williams off for the rest of the season, but he believes Williams’ recovery would take months.
“The majority of these injuries, though, regardless of what exact situation that is in terms of dislocation, fracture, are going to be extensive, multi-month absences,” he said. “Whether they’re putting hardware in there to fix fractures, whether they’re doing soft tissue reconstruction work on the surrounding ligaments, if it is just a simple dislocation, I would fully expect this sort of an injury to be a multi-month absence, if not even potentially a season-ending sort of thing.”
Sutterer said the most likely diagnosis is a dislocation with a major fracture.
“And based on the mechanism of what we’re seeing here, the most likely scenario would be an ankle dislocation, plus or minus a fracture. And you can very rarely have situations where the ankle dislocates without a fracture,” the doctor said. “The majority of the time, there is an associated fracture.”
With 1:14 remaining in the fourth quarter, Williams drove to the basket for a dunk and was sandwiched in mid-air by the LA Clippers’ Kris Dunn from behind and Derrick Jones Jr. from the front.
The contact from Dunn disrupted Williams’ balance, causing him to fall and pin his left leg underneath the full weight of his body.
Jalen Williams previously dealt with recurring soft-tissue issues, including four left hamstring strains and two wrist surgeries that limited him to 33 regular-season games during the 2025-2026 season.
By late September 2026, Williams announced that he was fully cleared from his lingering hamstring problems after a four-month healing and rest period over the offseason.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Reflects On Losing Jalen Williams To Catastrophic Injury
Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was visibly emotional after seeing Jalen Williams fall to an ugly injury against the Clippers.
He got candid about losing Williams, his close friend, to the awful injury.
“Man, I don’t even know. I just feel bad for him,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after the game. “Nothing more than that.”
SGA, the reigning two-time MVP, also talked about the inevitability of playing without Jalen Williams for the season.
“We don’t have no choice. It’s what we signed up for,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s obviously going to be tough without a player like that.”
Everyone now awaits the team’s official diagnosis on Jalen Williams’ injury.
Sports Doctor Gives Likely Diagnosis For Horrific Jalen Williams Injury