OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Thunder will be without star wing Jalen Williams in Game 7 on Saturday night against the San Antonio Spurs.
Williams left the series in Game 2 after aggravating his left hamstring injury. He missed Games 3, 4 and 5 but attempted to return in Game 6, playing 10 limited minutes off the bench before Thunder coach Mark Daigneault pulled the plug in the team's 118-91 loss.
"He's obviously not 100%," Daigneault said. "He didn't know what to expect. I didn't know what to expect. So it was a matter of getting him out there in kind of an insulated role and see what he can bring to the team. He's an All-Star player, he's an All-NBA player. He hasn't done a full return to play [protocol] like he would if this was the regular season, and yet he just wants to do whatever he can to try to contribute whatever he can to the team.
"I give him a lot of credit to get himself out there. He did the best he could. He's certainly not the reason we lost."
Williams looked rusty, dribbling the ball out of bounds for one of his two turnovers, and lacked burst. He exited the Frost Bank Center without speaking to the media. The Thunder ruled him out of Game 7 on Friday evening.
Williams, a third-team All-NBA selection last season who played a critical role in the Thunder's title run despite playing through a right wrist injury that required surgery, struggled to stay on the floor all season. He was limited to only 33 regular season games because of his recovery from offseason wrist surgery and a right hamstring strain that he aggravated. He strained his left hamstring in the second game of the playoffs, sidelining him for six games before he returned for the May 18 series opener against the Spurs.
If the Thunder is able to advance past the Spurs, Game 1 of the NBA Finals will be against the New York Knicks on Wednesday in Oklahoma City.