The Phoenix Suns find themselves in a 2-0 versus the Oklahoma City Thunder in the playoffs, although they at least have the sympathy of the entire NBA.
Suns have way back into series after apparent Jalen Williams injury
As the series heads back to Phoenix, and with the Suns struggling with injuries to some key players, they need some kind of luck to try and make this matchup competitive.
Which is exactly what they may have gotten, with Jalen Williams checking himself out of the Game 2 contest and many Thunder fans fearing a flare up of the hamstring issues that derailed his regular season.
Jalen Williams left tonight’s game with a left hamstring injury
— Dr. Evan Jeffries, DPT (@GameInjuryDoc) April 23, 2026
He had TWO right hamstring strains earlier in the year that caused him to miss significant time throughout the season.
MRI will determine if there is a hamstring strain and severity. Healing timeline is as… pic.twitter.com/eYbM4bw1RH
If this is an issue that will keep him out of the next few games, then it is the kind of break that the Suns and their head coach Jordan Ott desperately needed.
Williams had been doing a wonderful job of keeping Jalen Green quiet, while also attacking him when his side had the ball, and this could allow Green to have a bigger offensive say moving forward.
The 25-year-old is also one of the Thunder's most important players, because of his combination of size, defending and ability to be a secondary playmaker behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Not that this setback is going to make the Suns favorites, far from it. But with Devin Booker getting technicals for seemingly no reason in Game 2, perhaps this is a small bit of karma.
The Suns are also likely to be without Mark Williams and Grayson Allen, although Jordan Goodwin might be back to lengthen coach Ott's rotation.
If there is one player who is going to make the most of the Thunder not being at full strength, then it is surely Dillon Brooks.
He has shown no fear in this series, and has been vocal about wanting to be in isolation with Gilgeous-Alexander.
That being said, the Thunder have dealt with Williams missing time before, and if anything they were at their most dominant early in the regular season when he was unavailable.
A sweep is still very much on the cards here, but Williams missing some time might just make this a fairer fight while also giving coach Ott one less problem to try and solve.
If the Suns can somehow win Game 3, then perhaps this will end up being more of a series relative to what we have seen so far between the two sides.
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