Thunder rule out Jalen Williams for Game 7 vs. Spurs amid lingering hamstring injury
· Yahoo Sports
The Oklahoma city Thunder have ruled out Jalen Williams for Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. Williams has missed much of the series against the San Antonio Spurs with a lingering hamstring strain.
In the official injury report released Friday, Oklahoma City cited “injury management” for Williams’ absence. Ajay Mitchell has also been ruled out with a right calf strain.
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Williams returned to the court in Game 6, playing 10 minutes of the Thunder’s 27-point loss and scoring just one point. Williams was questionable right up until game time, and did not initially join the team for pregame warmups.
The fourth-year guard missed six straight games in the Thunder’s postseason run before returning in Game 1 of the series against the Spurs. However, he re-aggravated his hamstring in Game 2, and missed the next three games in the series.
Mitchell, also a shooting guard, has been out since Game 3 of the series. That put Jared McCain in the starting lineup, with the third-year guard putting up 24 points in Game 3, 20 points in Game 5 and dropping 13 points in Thursday’s Game 6.
Oklahoma City had a chance to seal its return to the NBA Finals on Thursday, but couldn’t overcome another Herculean effort from Victor Wembanyama. The Spurs’ dominant win forces a Game 7, which will determine who joins the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals next week.