With less than a minute remaining in the game at Paycom Center on October 25, Jalen Williams powered through to the basket. It wasn’t long before the game was halted.
Williams attempted a slam dunk when he was fouled and he fell awkwardly. There seemed to be something wrong with his left leg. While he was attended to, there was a silence from the crowd.
The Thunder beat the Los Angeles Clippers by 108-101. However, nobody at the stadium was thinking about the score anymore.
There was a delay of five minutes in the game. Williams’ ankle was covered by towels, and the players from both sides were distressed as a stretcher was brought on the floor.
The teammates, including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, hugged him emotionally as the medical team did their work.
Williams, who is the All-Star forward of Thunder, gave a thumbs up to the crowd from the stretcher. The fans showered him with cheers and chants of "J-Dub."
This foul was committed by Kris Dunn. Dunn made contact with Williams while he was coming down, committing a reckless closeout foul, which received a flagrant 1.
These free throws were a sign of solidarity. Gilgeous-Alexander shot two flagrant free throws in place of Williams.
Williams ended up scoring eight points on 3-of-8 shooting, five assists, two rebounds, and two steals in 32 minutes, as per Basketnews.
No diagnoses were announced after Sunday night. The Thunder kept silent regarding the injury, but it was very serious. The coach of the team, Mark Daigneault, assured us that they would get a brief report on Monday morning.
The sources for reporting about the injury are not the same. Some sources reported an injury to the left lower leg or ankle, while NBC Sports reported an awkward knee bend but did not cite any source.
The coach was rather quiet about the incident. He stated to the press, "Those are tough, man," without giving any additional information.
However, the most valuable player seemed to have difficulty uttering any words after the match ended. During the post-game interview, he got emotional and said, "I just feel bad for him."
Moreover, the reigning MVP spoke about what was coming next. He mentioned that things would be hard without that player and that the team had to hang on until his return. It was a message of hope rather than a medical one.
Early predictions were pessimistic. NBC Sports predicted that the injury might cause the player to miss his entire season, just three games into it. Basketnews reported on a prediction that Williams would possibly miss the remainder of the season.
These predictions are all made without any information coming out from the team itself yet.
The extent of the injury has to be determined through a test or an examination.
The injury has been caused by a tough spell for the player. Williams was absent from most games last season due to several injuries.
Williams has made an excellent recovery. After being away for a large part of last season, Williams made a fantastic start to this season.
According to CBS Sports, he was the 20th best player in the league. The publication stated that the Thunder team had retained their whole squad, which was greatly affected by the injury because of the tough Western Conference.
