{"id":539380,"date":"2026-03-22T23:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T23:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/539380\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T23:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T23:02:09","slug":"sources-thunder-star-jalen-williams-to-return-vs-76ers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/539380\/","title":{"rendered":"Sources: Thunder star Jalen Williams to return vs. 76ers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0and\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tim MacMahon<\/p>\n

Close<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

Tim MacMahon<\/p>\n

ESPN Staff WriterJoined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009Covers the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas MavericksAppears regularly on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM<\/p>\n

Multiple Authors<\/p>\n

Mar 22, 2026, 04:50 PM ET<\/p>\n

Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> star forward Jalen Williams<\/a> is off the injury report and will return for Monday’s road game against the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> after missing the last five-plus weeks due to a strained right hamstring, sources told ESPN on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Williams, who has twice strained the hamstring this season, comes back with 11 games remaining in the regular season.<\/p>\n

Injuries have limited Williams, a third-team All-NBA selection last season, to only 26 games this season. The Thunder are hopeful that Williams will be able to establish a rhythm entering the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Williams missed the first 19 games while recovering from surgery on his right wrist, which he injured in the final week of the 2024-25 regular season. He delayed the operation to repair a torn scapholunate ligament in his shooting wrist until after the playoffs, averaging 21.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game during the Thunder’s championship run despite requiring frequent pain-killing injections in his wrist. He has struggled to regain his shooting form, averaging 17.5 points per game while shooting a career-low 31.3% from 3-point range this season.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/p>\n

Williams first strained his hamstring during a Jan. 17 road loss to the Miami Heat<\/a>. He missed the next 10 games, returning for a Feb. 9 road win over the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, Williams aggravated the strain two nights later, prematurely ending a spectacular individual performance in a Feb. 11 road win over the Phoenix Suns<\/a>. He scored 28 points on 11-of-12 shooting in 20 minutes before limping off the floor.<\/p>\n

The Thunder have a league-best 56-15 record, including an 11-game winning streak since reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> returned from an abdominal strain. Oklahoma City has had the second-most missed games due to injuries, trailing only the Memphis Grizzlies<\/a>, according to ESPN Research.<\/p>\n

The Thunder’s projected starting lineup of Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams, Lu Dort, Chet Holmgren<\/a> and Isaiah Hartenstein<\/a> has played just five games together this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0and\u00a0 Tim MacMahon Close Tim MacMahon ESPN Staff WriterJoined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009Covers the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-539380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}