Oklahoma City did exactly what the bracket said it would do on Tuesday night, blowing past the Phoenix Suns 120-107 to take a 2-0 lead in the first round. Then, midway through the third quarter, Jalen Williams pulled up underneath the basket, walked himself off the floor and never came back. By the time the Inside the NBA crew picked up the broadcast in Atlanta, the Thunder's championship-defense conversation had a different tone.
"What was a great night for Oklahoma City got a little cloud over it now with Jalen Williams," Charles Barkley said, after rolling the highlight of Williams limping off. "Because you see, man, he is special. Just getting his stride back now, too. Played 33 games this year, now looking like the old guy."
Williams suffered a left hamstring injury, on the opposite leg from the right hamstring strain that wrecked stretches of his regular season. ESPN's Shams Charania reported the All-NBA wing was undergoing an MRI on the day after the game.
"I'm told JDub is undergoing an MRI today on that left hamstring," Charania said on ESPN. "There's obvious concern when it comes to the hamstring, and this is the opposite hamstring that JDub injured multiple times during the season, missed significant periods of time over the course of the year. The Thunder's history is always being cautious, especially with a soft tissue injury like this one. My understanding is the Thunder will know more later today and then tomorrow as far as his status is concerned."
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who finished with 37 points despite jamming his own left hand on a first-quarter drive, took the question on Williams as a leadership cue.
"We have guys coming in and out the lineup all year," Gilgeous-Alexander said in his postgame availability. "We've played with so many lineups that it seemed pretty seamless. Now JDub is one of our better players, obviously one of the better players in the league. For us to reach the mountain top, we're going to need him. But all we can do is play next man up. We build that muscle throughout the season pretty well. So I'm super confident in this team to be able to go and get a job done no matter who's out there."
Chet Holmgren, joining Inside the NBA from the floor, said he had not even seen the play.
"Honestly, I didn't see the play. I didn't even see what happened," Holmgren told Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, Kenny Smith and Barkley. "I just looked up and noticed that he wasn't out there in his normal rotation, and I was asking around, and he was back in the locker room. I don't know what happened. That's going to be up to the medical staff to fill you guys in. I have no idea, but I hope it's not nothing serious."
Bobby Marks broke down on ESPN where the absence would actually start to hurt the defending champions, and his answer was not the Suns or the second round.
"No disrespect to the Lakers or the Rockets who would be their opponents in round two, but I think it would be a Western Conference Finals," Marks said. "Whether it be Denver, Minnesota, Portland, or even San Antonio. When you look at the body of work this year, they're 15-0 when Jaylen doesn't start and you replace him with Cason Wallace in that starting lineup. So there's such a long body of work there as far as plug and play. But I do think the playoffs are showing us is about of attrition as far as getting through day to day here. I do think conference finals is where I would be concerned if he's not back in the lineup."
Kenny Smith pushed back on the idea that the Thunder are simply a better-with-Williams team, framing it instead as a margin-for-error question.
"They're definitely the team to beat with him," Smith said. "The difference is they can win without him. He makes it easier and there's less room for error and more room for error when you have a guy like that. When you have great experience and winning without your guy, it's a really good confidence booster for the other guys."
The series shifts to Phoenix for Game 3 on Friday night with Oklahoma City already in control on the scoreboard but waiting on its medical staff to fill in the rest of the picture.
