Jalen Williams Injury Overshadows Thunder's 3-0 Start

The Oklahoma City Thunder are 3-0. They own double digit wins over the San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets, their two biggest rivals and arguably their two biggest threats in the Western Conference. They were able to hold off a feisty Los Angeles Clippers squad on Sunday night on the strength of the back to back MVP scoring 34 points.

And yet Thunder fans may be the most heartbroken group in the NBA at the moment.

In the waning moments of their 108-101 win over the Clippers, All-NBA forward Jalen Williams suffered what appeared to be a devastating ankle or lower leg injury.

The gut-wrenching reactions from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Alex Caruso, Ajay Mitchell and Williams' other surrounding teammates were the first indicator that the injury was serious. Thunder trainers immediately covered his legs with towels. The stretcher came out. All the of the excitement was sucked out of the arena and replaced with somber silence.

A heartfelt moment did take place in the anxious, uneasy period while the medical staff was preparing Williams to be lifted onto the stretcher. A crowd of over 18,000 people first began chanting "JDub! JDub!" to honor the beloved fan favorite. That chant was then replaced with the entire arena barking, a touching trademark tribute between Loud City and Williams. The All-Star flashed two thumbs up as he was wheeled away to the locker room.

OKC closed out the Clippers in the final couple minutes. Gilgeous-Alexander fought back tears in his postgame interview with Thunder reporter Nick Gallo. Fans filed out of The Paycom Center having seen their team improve to 3-0. But you'd never guess gauging by the mood in the building.

“Those are tough, man. We’re not doing great," Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said postgame. "That’s tough on the guys. Everyone empathizes, I think both teams, in those situations. We’re not doing great.”

As Daigneault mentioned during his media availability, the NBA schedule rolls on and the team will now have to continue on as well. The Phoenix Suns are in town on Monday night for the second night of a back to back set. So what do the Thunder do now in the aftermath of an emotionally crushing and potentially season altering injury?

“I think it starts with just getting everybody and regrouping in a situation like that," Daigneault said. "Especially when it’s ugly like that. Which is what we’ll focus on first before we move on to anything else. We’ll come in tomorrow, we’ll get everybody together and we’ll have more information for the team at that time. I know they’ll be hungry to know how he’s doing and stuff like that, and then we’ll move from there. But, at this point, you’ve just got to allow yourself to feel the way you do.”