Against the Lakers, Jalen Williams was on a minutes restriction, yet he scored 23 points. Against the Suns, without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the OKC once again relied on J-Dub, who had a 92% shooting night from FG. But it came to a screeching halt, as another injury rose.
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Jalen Williams had 28 points on 11-of-12 shooting, but exited the third quarter after grabbing at his right hamstring. This was his second game after a return from a hamstring injury, which recently caused him to miss 10 games. At the end of the third frame, the onetime All-Star grabbed his leg, around his hamstring, and walked back to the locker room.
Once he proceeded to miss his first FG in the next play, he asked to be subbed out. This continues to be a horrid injury season for the 24-year-old.
Status alert: Jalen Williams (hamstring) headed to locker room Wednesday.
— Underdog NBA (@UnderdogNBA) February 12, 2026
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 appearing in just 25 games this season, before today’s matchup.
It was against the Lakers when the 24-year-old made his return from the hamstring injury. His 23 points weren’t perfect, as he scored 6-17 and connected 0-2 from beyond the arc. But J-Dub found his rhythm and scored 10 points in the final quarter. That fine form for the Santa Clara product continued tonight.
In 20 minutes of action, Jalen Williams had a season-high 28 points, hauled in four rebounds, dished out five assists, was a +19 in the contest, and only missed one shot from the floor while going 2-for-2 from beyond the arc. With his return, he was the star general of the team, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is sidelined because of an abdominal strain and will miss the All-Star game.
These injury issues mean that 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 for these games. 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 the internal investigation. Amid this investigation and the injury concerns for the champions, 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 is not serious, and he doesn’t sit out more games on the sidelines.