{"id":592380,"date":"2026-02-09T11:52:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T11:52:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/592380\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T11:52:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T11:52:35","slug":"jalen-williams-to-return-from-hamstring-strain-against-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/592380\/","title":{"rendered":"Jalen Williams to return from hamstring strain against Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Feb. 8, 2026, 7:09 p.m. CT<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"gnt_em_img_i\" style=\"height:440px\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/88241041007-usatsi-28032067.jpg\"  elementtiming=\"ar-lead-image\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Jan 17, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Jalen Williams (8) reacts against the Miami Heat during the second quarter at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Help has arrived. The <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/nba\/teams\/oklahoma-city-thunder\/25\/\" data-autotag=\"cd165858-eeda-4db8-a84a-db7a782e61e3\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> will see Jalen Williams return in Monday&#8217;s game against the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/nba\/teams\/los-angeles-lakers\/13\/\" data-autotag=\"4d34a300-3059-4ec4-a4d3-4d636ac95816\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>. He was not listed on OKC&#8217;s injury report, signaling his return.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Williams has missed their last 10 games with a hamstring strain he sustained in their <a href=\"http:\/\/okcthunderwire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nba\/thunder\/2026\/01\/17\/player-grades-williams-injury-clouds-thunder-in-122-120-loss-to-heat\/88239888007\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jan. 17 loss<\/a> to the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/nba\/teams\/miami-heat\/14\/\" data-autotag=\"2fc7081f-f0b3-4b1d-b589-781c9028a4e7\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Miami Heat<\/a>. Over the last couple of weeks, he&#8217;s slowly ramped up his physical activity at both the practice facility and in pregame warmups.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The Thunder have desperately needed Williams&#8217; help. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been sidelined for two games and will miss at least three more with an abdominal strain. The reigning MVP will be re-evaluated after the NBA All-Star break.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">But with Williams and Chet Holmgren, they provide the Thunder with enough star power to at least survive the rough waters without Gilgeous-Alexander. The former has been plagued by injuries all season. He missed OKC&#8217;s first 19 games recovering from his torn wrist ligaments that he played through in their championship run these past playoffs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Williams has averaged 16.8 points on 47% shooting, 5.6 assists and 4.8 rebounds in 24 games this season.<\/p>\n<p>Need a news break? <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (play)|e|auto spike click:6|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/play.usatoday.com\/?itm_source=SPIKE&amp;itm_campaign=PLAYSPIKE&amp;itm_medium=ONSITE\">Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 8, 2026, 7:09 p.m. CT Help has arrived. The Oklahoma City Thunder will see Jalen Williams return&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3783],"tags":[72400,7,6,310,475,179,3966,3965,30882,72482,72404,72487,72488,72689,72442,72484,72666,72485,72406,312,72403],"class_list":{"0":"post-592380","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-oklahoma","12":"tag-oklahoma-city","13":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","14":"tag-oklahomacity","15":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","16":"tag-sstssportsnbathunder","17":"tag-sstsnokc-thunder","18":"tag-tagbasketball","19":"tag-tagchet-holmgren","20":"tag-tagjalen-williams","21":"tag-taglos-angeles-lakers","22":"tag-tagmiami-heat","23":"tag-tagoklahoma-city-thunder","24":"tag-tagoverall-negative","25":"tag-tagshai-gilgeous-alexander","26":"tag-tagsports-news","27":"tag-thunder","28":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116040536219805573","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}