Oklahoma City Thunder wing Jalen Williams is questionable for Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs, as he deals with a left hamstring strain that has sidelined him for a large chunk of the playoffs.
Williams aggravated the injury after playing seven minutes in Game 2 against the Spurs, after missing the entire second-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers. He initially sustained the injury in Game 2 of the opening round against the Phoenix Suns, but reportedly felt healthy enough to start the West Finals vs the Spurs.
The former All-Star dealt with a more severe right hamstring strain during the regular season, which sidelined him for 30 games. He also sat out the first 19 games recovering from offseason wrist surgery. Overall, he has missed 58 of the OKC’s 95 games thus far.
Thunder Injuries Pile Up
Ajay Mitchell — who excelled filling in for Williams in the earlier rounds of the playoffs — went down with an injury of his own earlier in the series and will miss his third consecutive contest against the Spurs on Thursday.
Fortunately for the Thunder, the likes of Alex Caruso, Jared McCain and Cason Wallace have stepped up big time in the absence of Williams and Mitchell. Caruso, in fact, has emerged as a candidate to win Western Conference Finals MVP. The two-time NBA champion has averaged 17.0 points, 3.6 made threes, 2.8 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.0 blocks at 57/58/81 shooting splits in the West Finals against the Spurs.
CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn believes Caruso — with his impact on both ends of the floor — has a strong case to beat out Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as Conference Finals MVP.
“The Thunder are plus-42 with Caruso on the floor in the series and minus-33 when he sits,” Quinn wrote after Caruso dropped 22 points in the Game 5 win.
“The Spurs opened this series hoping to “hide” Wembanyama by letting him guard Caruso. The theory was that Caruso was a weak enough shooter that Wembanyama could hang by the rim and blow up any and all Oklahoma City drives.
“Well, Caruso has attempted 31 3-pointers in this series and made 18 of them. Among players who attempted at least 30 3-pointers, that is tied for the hottest five-game shooting stretch any player has ever had in conference finals history.”
Jalen Williams Injury Update
The one positive sign for OKC is that Williams has been listed as questionable for two games in a row, and not ruled out a day before, like Ajay Mitchell. Some insiders have noted that his injury isn’t as severe as some of his earlier hamstring strains in the season. To that end, ESPN’s Shams Charania noted earlier this week that Williams had resumed on-court workouts and was closer to a return.
“I am told that he is making some progress in his on-court workouts. He’s starting to do more and more,” Charania said ahead of Game 5 on Tuesday.
A final status on Williams’ availability for Game 6 is expected around 90 minutes before tip-off at 8:30 p.m. ET. The Thunder have the opportunity to close out the Spurs and advance to the NBA Finals for a second year in a row.
Jalen Williams Injury Update: Is Thunder Star Playing Tonight’s Game 6 vs Spurs?