The Oklahoma City Thunder got used to playing without Jalen Williams last season.
Now, they’ll have to do so again.
Williams will miss Monday’s home game against the Phoenix Suns — and plenty more to follow — after going down with a severe left leg injury with just more than a minute remaining in the Thunder’s 108-101 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.
“Those are tough, man,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said of Williams’ injury. “We’re not going great. That’s tough on the guys. Everyone empathizes, I think both teams, in those situations. We’re not doing great.”
Williams was injured driving to the basket with 1:14 remaining, landing awkwardly after taking a hard foul from Clippers guard Kris Dunn that was assessed as a flagrant foul upon video review.
The Thunder could be even further shorthanded against Phoenix after both Cason Wallace and Jaylin Williams also left the game in the first quarter due to injuries.
“We’ll come in and we’ll regroup tomorrow and see where we’re at,” Daigneault said.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was shaken up during his on-court interview after Sunday’s win.
“He just loves playing,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of Williams a bit later. “He loves the competition. That’s who he is. I have no doubt he’ll be back better than before.”
Williams missed much of last season due to a string of injuries, sidelined for much of Oklahoma City’s run to the Western Conference Finals as well.
“It’ll be no different than it’s been in the past,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. ” … We’ll figure out a way to keep pushing forward, keep getting better and hold the fort down until those guys come back.”
This game will be the first meeting between these teams since Oklahoma City swept the first-round playoff series against the Suns last season. Williams strained his left hamstring in the second game of that series and missed the final two games as well as the entire second-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Suns are coming off a 131-122 home win over Golden State on Saturday.
Phoenix’s defense has struggled early in the season, with an NBA-worst 123.0 defensive rating and giving up 123 points per game while splitting the first two contests.
The Suns have surrendered a league-worst 17.5 offensive rebounds per game, a trend that they’ll figure to need to turn around against Oklahoma City.
“Once you have a reputation where teams can get offensive rebounds, everyone’s gonna start crashing (the boards) on us,” Phoenix guard Devin Booker said.
One of those defensive issues for the Suns has been the off-ball defensive breakdowns that have led to points at the basket for their opponents.
“The way the league is played right now is if you do make that sacrificial cut to the rim and you have enough passing on the perimeter, that you can find some of those (defensive breakdowns),” Phoenix coach Jordan Ott said. ” … As the season progresses, you kind of built out more of your defensive coverages. That’s something that we’ve hit a lot because we’ve seen it kind of coming through the league.”
Ott said he expects the Thunder to try to exploit that as well.
The Suns will likely be without forward Oso Ighodaro, who is doubtful with a right oblique strain he sustained in Phoenix’s season opener.
