The defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder open their title defense Tuesday night against the Houston Rockets. The Paycom Center crowd will see the team\u2019s championship banner raised and players receive their rings, celebrating last season\u2019s Game 7 Finals win over the Indiana Pacers.<\/p>\n
Heading into opening night, several key players are listed on the OKC Thunder\u2019s injury report, including Jalen Williams and Isaiah Joe. Both were ruled OUT for opening night against the Rockets, per the Thunder.<\/p>\n
OKC Thunder Injury Report vs. Houston RocketsIsaiah Joe \u2014 SG \u2014 OutNikola Topic \u2014 G \u2014 OutKenrich Williams \u2014 SF \u2014 OutJalen Williams \u2014 F \u2014 OutThomas Sorber \u2014 C \u2014 OutWhen will Jalen Williams return from injury?<\/p>\n
OKC Thunder star forward Jalen \u201cJDub\u201d Williams injured his wrist at the end of the regular season in April 2025. He played the entire playoffs with a torn scapholunate ligament in his right wrist, and had surgery from Dr. Steven Shin on July 1, 2025.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s listed as OUT on ESPN\u2019s injury report with the following comment: Oct 20: Williams (wrist) is listed as inactive ahead of Tuesday’s regular-season opener against the Rockets, Tim MacMahon of ESPN reports.<\/p>\n
Thunder Reporter Steve McGehee shared video of Williams getting shots up ahead of the Thunder\u2019s final preseason game against Denver on Friday.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
With JDub unable to play Tuesday, and maybe for more games, the Thunder will feel his absence on both ends of the court.<\/p>\n
Williams was named to his first NBA All-Star team last season, and averaged 21.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.1 assists during the regular season. He also scored 40 points in a pivotal finals game for the Thunder.<\/p>\n
Is Alex Caruso Injured for the Thunder?<\/p>\n
During OKC\u2019s final preseason game against Denver, Caruso was a starter but only played 11 minutes, leaving early due to an ankle injury. He’s since been upgraded to active for the season opener.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what ESPN\u2019s injury report said about Caruso Monday:<\/p>\n
Caruso (ankle) totaled three points (1-3 FG, 1-3 3Pt) and one rebound across 11 minutes in Friday\u2019s 94-91 preseason win over the Nuggets.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Caruso is one of four guards listed on the injury report, and depending on who is available, depth could become an issue to start the season.<\/p>\n
Last season, Caruso played in 54 regular-season games and averaged 19.3 minutes per game. In the postseason, the defensive star averaged 24.2 minutes per game, which is where the Thunder really wants Caruso to perform. Expect OKC to let Caruso, the veteran and oldest player on the team, get fully healthy and comforatble before returning to the court.<\/p>\n
When Will Nikola Topic Debut for the Thunder?<\/p>\n
The 12th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft for the Thunder was out all last season due to a knee injury. This year, he played in the Summer League and the preseason before being ruled out for 4-6 weeks after undergoing testicular surgery on October 6th.<\/p>\n
That timeline has Topic returning anywhere from November 3 to November 17th, as early as the Thunder\u2019s 8th game of the season.<\/p>\n
Thunder Guards on Injury Update<\/p>\n
The other two guards on the injury report ahead of the season for the Thunder are Aja Mitchell, a ball-handling point guard, and Isaiah Joe, a three-point sharpshooter.<\/p>\n
Joe has been ruled OUT and his injury report comment reads as follows: Oct 20: Joe (knee) has been ruled out for Friday’s preseason game against Denver, Clemente Almanza of USA Today reports.<\/p>\n
He injured his knee during OKC\u2019s preseason game against the Pacers. He was limited to seven minutes on the floor.<\/p>\n
Joe, a rotational piece who comes off OKC\u2019s bench, can provide a quick spark for the offense from behind the arc. Last season in 74 games played, Joe shot 41.2 percent on threes.<\/p>\n
Second round pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, Mitchell was carving his spot into the Thunder rotation last season before a turf toe injury sidelined him for the majority of the season.<\/p>\n
Mitchell, also ruled out for the final preseason game, hurt his ankle during the Pacers game. He’s been upgraded to active for OKC’s season opener.<\/p>\n
Recovering from Surgery<\/p>\n
Big man Kenrich Williams is OUT until late November or early December after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on September 30th.<\/p>\n
Kenrich Williams is another key rotational piece behind Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Jalen Williams.<\/p>\n
First-round pick this year, Thomas Sorber, is out for the season with a torn ACL in his right knee. He\u2019ll return for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder open their title defense Tuesday night against the Houston Rockets. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[11242,11241,11244,11243,1615,7000,56,58,57,4854,6390,11245,11236,10135,11237,11247,11246,6382,11240,11238,10136,11239],"class_list":{"0":"post-13569","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-aja-mitchell","9":"tag-alex-caruso","10":"tag-chet-holmgren","11":"tag-clemente-almanza","12":"tag-denver","13":"tag-espn","14":"tag-houston","15":"tag-houston-headlines","16":"tag-houston-news","17":"tag-houston-rockets","18":"tag-indiana-pacers","19":"tag-isaiah-hartenstein","20":"tag-isaiah-joe","21":"tag-jalen-williams","22":"tag-kenrich-williams","23":"tag-nuggets","24":"tag-okc-thunder","25":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","26":"tag-steve-mcgehee","27":"tag-steven-shin","28":"tag-thomas-sorber","29":"tag-tim-macmahon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}