Jalen Williams injury update: Thunder star leaves Game 2 vs. Suns with hamstring injury

Jalen Williams is questionable to return to Game 2 of Thunder’s opening playoff series with the Suns with a left hamstring injury, per the ESPN broadcast. He left the game in the third quarter.

“Jaylen Williams, J-Dub of the Thunder is back in the locker room at the 6:46 mark (of the third quarter),” ESPN’s Jorge Sedano said. “He missed a layup here in this quarter at 5:53. He took a foul, was walking toward the bench and told them, ‘Left hammy,’ is what he said to the bench.”

Sedano clarified that the left hamstring is not the same one that Williams injured twice before. Still, the injury appeared enough to force him out of the playoff game and into the locker room for further evaluation.

Williams was providing the Thunder with key minutes during Game 2 before his injury. He scored 19 points in the first half on 7-8 from the floor in 18 minutes during the first half. At the time he left the game, the Oklahoma City standout had 22 points to go with seven rebounds and six assists.

During the regular season, Williams had been averaging 17.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.5 assists, helping the Thunder to a No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. OKC entered the postseason with an NBA-high 64 wins.

With the Thunder looking to go back-to-back after its NBA Finals win one year ago, keeping Williams healthy will be key moving forward in this series and beyond. His status of questionable is hopeful, but the actual severity of his injury is initially unknown.

If Oklahoma City can hold on, they’ll take a 2-0 lead into the next two games in Phoenix. That means the Thunder could wrap up the series before they even come back home. The winner of this series takes on either LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, or Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets.