Thunder Lose Williams And Wallace To Surgery After One Sunday Win

Oklahoma City beat the Clippers on Sunday and lost two starters doing it: Jalen Williams fractured his fibula and dislocated his ankle, Cason Wallace tore his labrum. Both need surgery. Neither has a timeline.

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Thunder won on Sunday and lost two starters doing it. General manager Sam Presti announced on Monday that Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace will both undergo surgery — Williams for a fractured fibula and a dislocated ankle in his left leg, Wallace for a torn labrum in his left shoulder — and that neither player has a date to return.

How It Happened

Both injuries came in the same game, Sunday’s 108–101 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. Wallace was hurt in the first quarter, running into a screen. Williams was hurt late in the fourth quarter on a drive to the basket and was taken from the court on a stretcher. The team played one game and came out of it with two starters headed for operating rooms.

The Two Players

Williams is the Thunder’s second star: an All-Star and an All-NBA selection in 2024–25, in the first year of a five-year, $239 million maximum contract. He was already limited to 33 regular-season games last season. Wallace is the backcourt’s defensive anchor, an All-Defensive second-team selection last season who had started all three games this season; he signed a five-year, $139 million extension on October 18, eight days before the injury.

How Fast They Rose

Neither man was supposed to take long. Williams was the 12th pick of the 2022 draft, out of Santa Clara, and finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting; by his third season he was an All-Star, an All-NBA selection and one of the league’s best two-way wings, the second player on a championship team at 24. Wallace was the 10th pick a year later, out of Kentucky, and made himself a starter on his defense alone before the shot came around. Oklahoma City’s rebuild was built on exactly this: young players arriving early and being extended early, at prices the club chose. The $239 million and $139 million contracts were the organization’s verdict on both men, delivered before this season began.

What It Means

Oklahoma City is the defending champion and began the season as the title favorite. Presti said timelines for both players would be set after their surgeries; Reuters reported that both could miss the rest of the season. The Thunder’s depth, the deepest rotation in the league during the title run, now becomes the story of their season: two starting places, one of them an All-NBA place, are open in the season’s first full week.

The Thunder Injuries In Short

Jalen Williams (fractured fibula, dislocated ankle) and Cason Wallace (torn labrum) will both have surgery, the Thunder announced Monday.
Both were hurt in Sunday’s 108–101 win over the Clippers; Williams left on a stretcher.
No return timelines until after surgery; Reuters reports both could miss the rest of the season.
Oklahoma City is the defending champion; Williams is on a five-year, $239 million deal and Wallace signed a $139 million extension on October 18.

Sources: Reuters, The Oklahoman and USA Today, October 26, 2026.