All-star guard Jalen Williams is off the team’s injury report and will make his season debut on Friday against the Phoenix Suns, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania on Thursday.
Williams missed the Thunder’s first 19 games of the season recovering from off-season wrist surgery after playing through a torn ligament in the team’s championship run.
The 23-year-old is coming off a breakout campaign, averaging career-bests across the board in scoring (21.6), rebounds (5.3), assists (5.1) and steals (1.6). He not only earned his first all-star nod, but Williams also made the All-NBA third team and All-Defence second team.
Originally drafted 12th overall by the Thunder in 2022, Williams has been a mainstay during the team’s rise to success. His month-long absence to start 2025-26 marked the longest injury stint of his three-year NBA career, as Williams had yet to play fewer than 69 games in a season.
Through 215 career games (203 starts), Williams has averaged 18.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.4 steals on 51.3/38.2/80.3 per cent shooting splits.
Oklahoma City has hardly skipped a beat without its de facto second-best player, surging out to an 18-1 start in its championship-defence season — the fifth team all-time to open the year with such a record or better.
The Thunder head into Friday’s matchup against the Suns on a league-best 10-game win streak — ranking top five on both sides of the ball while boasting the NBA’s top net rating (plus-16.4).
Now they’ll add a well-rested and ready Williams to an already vaunted squad that’s firing on all cylinders.
