Jalen Williams was lighting it up despite the odds. Against the Lakers, he dropped 23 points on a strict minutes restriction. Then came the Suns game—without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC leaned hard on J-Dub, who went nuclear with a 92% field goal clip. But the magic screeched to a halt with another gut-wrenching injury.

The 24-year-old phenom tallied 28 points on an absurd 11-of-12 shooting, until he wasn’t. In his second game back from a hamstring tweak that sidelined him for 10 matches, Williams grabbed his right hamstring late in the third quarter against Phoenix.

He’d just missed his first shot of the night on the prior possession, signaled for a sub, and limped to the locker room—a grim encore to this nightmare injury season for the onetime All-Star.

Before the hamstring injury against the Miami Heat three weeks ago, J-Dub missed the first 19 games of the season because of multiple wrist surgeries; first in July to repair a torn scapholunate ligament, then to remove a screw that had started irritating his wrist in October. This has limited Jalen Williams to just 25 games this season before today’s matchup.

The 24-year-old made his return from a hamstring injury against the Lakers, scoring 23 points on 6-17 shooting and missing both attempts from beyond the arc.

Despite the inefficient start, J-Dub found his rhythm in the final quarter, dropping 10 points to close out the game. That momentum carried over into tonight’s performance. In 20 minutes of action, Jalen Williams exploded for a season-high 28 points while adding four rebounds and five assists.

The Santa Clara product was nearly perfect from the floor, missing just one shot and going 2-for-2 from three-point range. He finished with a +19 plus-minus rating.

With SGA sidelined due to an abdominal strain that will keep him out of the All-Star game, Williams stepped up as the team’s primary offensive leader.

These injuries mean the reigning NBA champions are now under an internal investigation.

Amid the investigation, Jalen Williams found some solace

For the San Antonio Spurs game, the OKC had eight active players. It was a nationally televised game, meaning teams cannot bench their star players. After missing the game against the Spurs, Hartenstein, Holmgren, Dort, and Caruso played in their 112-106 loss to the Houston Rockets on Saturday.

That’s why there is an internal investigation. Amid this investigation and concerns about the champions’ injuries, J-Dub made his return.

Against the Lakers, the 24-year-old collided with Deandre Ayton, but did not suffer any further injury doubts. After the game, he was happy that a hiatus helped him regain his focus.

“It feels great. The three weeks were actually great for me. That was the first time I shot like that since April 8 of last year. So that was really dope,” Jalen Williams said to the media. “My hand feels good. I honestly just got jammed up with Ayton. That was kinda it. It went away right after I missed the free throw, unfortunately. It’s honestly the best it’s been since then. A lot of the reps I was able to get while I was out have really helped out a lot.”

The Oklahoma City Thunder play on the second leg of a back-to-back on Thursday evening against the Milwaukee Bucks. OKC fans will hope that Williams’ injury isn’t serious and that he doesn’t miss more games.