The Thunder’s hopes of winning back-to-back championships were demolished by the Spurs after San Antonio defeated Oklahoma 111-103 at their home in an electrifying upset at the Paycom Center.
On a night where Chet Holmgren pulled off an abysmal performance, the Thunder seemed to have a major Jalen Williams-sized hole in their offense, as he had been sidelined for aggravating his strained left hamstring.
The former All-NBA player, Jalen Williams, spoke to the media tonight in his end-of-season interview, where he made some bold reflections on the defending champions’ season. A reporter asked Williams how he felt he could have impacted the series.
“I don’t do the hypothetical thing too much because it does not solve anything that’s going on right now. But to humor your question, uh, obviously, I think I could have made an impact. I think we could have won if I had gone to seven with them without me playing. I don’t think I make us worse.”
“So that’s really my answer to that. But it’s also hats off to them. Like what what do you want them to do about me being hurt? You know what I mean? They still have to go out there and try to beat us, and that’s what it is, and they did that. So, all we can do is, you know, tip your hat, wish them the best of luck going on, even though I don’t want to, and then go from there.”
“But they’re a good team. It would have been a challenge if I played or not, but I definitely think I could have changed the series, but it’ll just have to wait until we meet again at some point,” Williams concluded.
Williams’ season, including this playoff run, was plagued by injuries. He could not play in Game 7 of the series and played only in 33 games in the regular season.
His teammates and coaches have still been very vocal about their support, saying they don’t mind him taking however much time he needs to recover. He was asked about his reaction to having such a solid support system.
“It doesn’t shock me at all, but it does mean a lot. Like, whenever somebody sees you working really hard and acknowledging it, it does give you that extra boost to like go out there and like want to keep doing it and stick with it.”
“And they had to do that a lot. I don’t know how many games I played this year. I can’t imagine it was like over 40, but just having them there through that, and it was big time. And I mean, I don’t know if many teams can be as injured as we were and do what we just did. That’s a huge testament to the team and just what they had to do.”
“Like the amount of injuries we had just throughout the year at like pivotal moments for us to like step up and be number one in the West for a third year and then obviously get to the Western Conference Finals and go to seven with the Spurs with people down and you know having to play and do things they don’t normally have to do and not what they signed up for like for us to do that I think is a big accomplishment.”
Williams’ 2025-26 season began with a wrist surgery followed by multiple hamstring injuries that kept him sidelined for most of the year. He averaged 17.1 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.6 rebounds while shooting 48.4% from the field and 29.9% from beyond the arc.
Clearly, he hadn’t reached his fully healthy self when he tried playing during the playoffs and aggravated his hamstring strain against the Suns in the first round, which kept him sidelined until the beginning of the Western Conference Finals against the Spurs, and eventually cost him further in the series.
He only played in five games during the postseason, where he averaged 14.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.8 assists while going 51.8% from the field and 41.7% from beyond the arc. Even Shai Gilgeous-Alexander spoke about the impact of not having Jalen Williams on the floor for most of the season.
“Yeah, not having Dub for the whole year basically, I mean, sucked. Like, he’s just such a unicorn out there. Like, he’s a 20-point per game scorer, guards one through five. Like last season, he got All-NBA for offense, All-NBA for defense, and was an All-Star, all in the same season at maybe 24 years old.”
“So, losing a guy like that just hurts. Like, he’s just uber talented, and like just having that Swiss Army knife on the court 24/7 is just a luxury. And we just didn’t have that luxury this year. And then sometimes it just goes like that,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
Even though his shooting efficiency had improved, his performance in Game 6 showed that even if he played, he may not have made that much of a difference. The Spurs were targeting him on the defensive end, and clearly, he was not able to keep up. It was evident that Williams was not playing like his fully healthy self, and the Spurs tried to exploit that in San Antonio.
But the fact that he blames injuries for the loss set off several NBA fans on social media, who felt that it was ironic seeing a Thunder player complain about injuries. Considering that their Game 7 victory of the 2024-25 NBA Finals was heavily in their favor due to the ACL injury to Tyrese Haliburton of the Pacers.
Whether or not the Thunder would have won with the current version of Williams is a discussion that can go on endlessly as a hypothetical. But it will certainly be interesting to see how the former All-NBA player, who averaged 23.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in the 2024-25 NBA Finals, will bounce back from witnessing his team lose from the sidelines.
