Three games into the 2026-27 regular season, the Oklahoma City Thunder had their board completely shifted. Sam Presti delivered the grim news following one of the darkest days in franchise history — Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace will be out for basically the entire year.
After a nasty fall that had his leg snapped backwards, Williams was diagnosed with a fractured fibula and a dislocated ankle. He will require surgery to address both. Meanwhile, Wallace sustained a torn labrum. He will also need surgery. Both are expected to miss most — if not all — of the remainder of the 2026-27 season.
The Thunder entered the year as NBA co-title favorites. Now, they're left scrambling. Two of their four best players are out for basically the whole year.
And now they have to completely change up their starting lineup. The first day of their new NBA life involved a 125-114 win over the Phoenix Suns.
Here's what the Thunder had to say about Williams and Wallace being lost for the year:
Mark Daigneault
"It's tough from just a compassion standpoint. Those are guys who work so hard. They're such great players. That was a tough pill. But the guys did a great job of appropriately honoring that and also getting themselves ready to compete, ready to play. They heard from Dub, they saw Cason, so it allowed them to kinda feel good about just going out there and competing for the team."
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
"We had a team meeting this morning, but it wasn't anything special. It wasn't no big come-together, hoo-rah moment. It was just that these were the cards that were dealt. We can either feel bad for ourselves — which nobody does — or we can go out there and get better from this opportunity. We had the choice to get better."
On Williams: "It's pretty crazy. Obviously, more than anything, I just feel gutted for the guy. He's had a tough year and a half of injuries. He finally seems to figure it out, and then something like this happens. It's crazy. It's hard to even fathom, like the game. I know how much he loves to play basketball and for it to be taken away like that time after time after time, it's unfair."
Ajay Mitchell
"I'm just glad we got the win. Prayers up to J-Dub, Caso, Otega. It's hard to see guys go down. Especially when you know how much they've worked. But we got their back. They're tough. I believe God has a plan for us. That's all that matters."
Isaiah Hartenstein
"I think we play for each other every night. Especially with what happened to those two. I think we we have a little bit of more pride behind it. They mean so much to us. Not just from a player standpoint, but from a human standpoint. We just want to play for them, but then also just be with them for them off the court. I think that's what makes our team special."
"First of all, the reality is you have two of our two starters, but then also just from a personal standpoint, you're with them probably more than your family. So I think it's always hard to see two of those guys be out. I think you kinda saw all that in our face last night. But I think kinda reality kicks in. You still have to go out there and play. You still have to figure out to win games. We're a no-excuse team."
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Several OKC Thunder players react to Jalen Williams', Cason Wallace's injury updates
