Before Monday’s matinee matchup with Cleveland even tipped off the Oklahoma City Thunder were short-handed. Down a pair of starters as All-NBA swingman Jalen Williams is nursing a right hamstring strain and Isaiah Hartenstein is still in street clothes as he deals with a right soleus strain. On top of their rookies, Nikola Topic and Thomas Sorber, who have yet to debut.
In the midst of the first half against the Cavaliers, the Oklahoma City Thunder found themselves up by 17 points thanks to a strong close before intermission that featured a 16-6 run.
The OKC Thunder knocked in ten triples at a 45% clip from downtown to help gain this cushion while their defense held Cleveland to 35% from the field, 22% from 3 point land and 75% at the charity stripe while producing nine first-half takeaways against the Cavaliers.
However, during the course of the opening two frames, the Oklahoma City Thunder saw starting forward Jaylin Williams, who got the nod for this spot start against Cleveland’s double big lineup due to Hartenstein’s injury, head to the locker room after just eight minutes of action.
The Arkansas product went up for a poster slam against Cleveland’s shot-blocking big man, Jarrett Allen, who turned Williams away at the rim and left the 2022 second-round pick tumbling on the hardwood with an awkward roll on his neck in the process.
Williams never emerged from the locker room with the Oklahoma City Thunder ruling the big man out for the second half of this game.
Defensive ace Alex Caruso was in for the Thunder’s strong close to the second quarter before stepping on fellow defensive stalwart Lu Dort’s foot to land awkwardly on the ground and hobbling to the locker room during the following timeout.
Like Williams, Caruso never returned to this contest, leaving both of their status up in the air long term.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have tabbed Williams as out with a lower back contusion and Caruso as dealing with right groin soreness.
Up next, the Oklahoma City Thunder wrap up this four game road trip in Milwaukee as they take on the Bucks on Wednesday before returning to the friendly confines of the Paycom Center on Friday night in an NBA Finals rematch against the Indiana Pacers.
Stay Tuned to Thunder on SI for complete coverage of this game against Cleveland and the entire 2025-26 campaign for Oklahoma City.
