The Oklahoma City Thunder’s All-NBA guard Jalen Williams is set to return.
He was officially been removed from the injury report and is set to make his season debut Friday night against the Phoenix Suns in Oklahoma City, ESPN’s Shams Charania has confirmed.
Williams has been sidelined since undergoing offseason wrist surgery after playing through a torn ligament during the Thunder’s 2025 championship run.
For weeks, Oklahoma City has maintained its position near the top of the conference without one of the central pillars of its offense and perimeter defense. That reality made the Thunder dangerous. His return now makes them complete.
The timing is not subtle. Phoenix arrives with its full offensive arsenal, a team built to stress every defensive rule on the floor. OKC answers with the missing piece of its title core.
Thunder Have Been Winning Without Him — Not Thriving
Oklahoma City’s early-season record has featured Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has carried an outsized burden as both the engine and the closer. The supporting cast has shifted nightly as head coach Mark Daigneault searched for the right balance or spacing and defense.
The one constant that never changed was the absence of Williams.
Last season, Williams was the Thunder’s pressure valve when possessions stalled. He was their best option against elite wings. He was the connective tissue between SGA’s isolation gravity and the motion-heavy attack that made OKC difficult to scout.
Playing through a torn wrist ligament during the playoffs, he rarely leaned on the injury publicly and never missed his defensive responsibilities.
Oklahoma City’s survival without him has been impressive. The ceiling without him was always undefined.
That ceiling reappears Friday. Williams averaged 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.6 steals while earning All-NBA and All-Defense honors last season.
A Different Phase of the Season Starts Now
The Thunder already proved they could dominate without Williams. That portion of the season is locked in the standings and the history books. The next phase tests what Oklahoma City looks like when the entire championship core is finally on the floor together again.
Williams’ return restores Oklahoma City’s full two-way structure. It stabilizes late-game offense, and changes how teams load up on Gilgeous-Alexander. It gives the Thunder their most versatile defender back in the middle of a league defined by spacing and isolation.
They were already 18–1 without him.
Now the version of the Thunder the league spent all offseason preparing for finally takes shape.
And it arrives Friday night, with Phoenix on the other end and the rest of the NBA watching to see how much higher this ceiling actually goes.
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