Thunder beat Clippers to stay unbeaten but Jalen Williams stretchered off

The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Los Angeles Clippers 108-101 on Sunday night to move to 3-0, but the result was overshadowed by the sight of All-Star guard Jalen Williams leaving the court on a stretcher with towels covering his left leg.

Williams went down on a drive to the basket with 1:14 remaining. NBC Los Angeles reported that he appeared to suffer a serious injury to his lower left leg while being fouled on the play. The game was stopped for about five minutes while he was treated and carried off.

The Thunder had no immediate diagnosis. Coach Mark Daigneault said the team would receive updates on Monday morning.

Daigneault did not dress it up. "We're not doing great," he said.

Gilgeous-Alexander carries the load

On the court, this was another night when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did most of the heavy lifting. He scored 34 points as the champions held off a Clippers side that refused to go away.

Ajay Mitchell gave him real support from the bench. The guard scored 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting and added six rebounds, four assists and three steals in 27 minutes, production Oklahoma City badly needed once its rotation started to shrink. Isaiah Hartenstein finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

The Clippers spread their scoring around. Darius Garland had 16 points, while Kris Dunn and Brook Lopez added 15 apiece.

Los Angeles made it a one-point game at 97-96 when Derrick Jones Jr. hit a three-pointer with three minutes left, but that was as close as the hosts of Wednesday's derby would get. The Thunder closed it out, and the Clippers dropped to 1-2, according to ESPN's recap.

Three men down before the final buzzer

The injury to Williams was the third of the night for Oklahoma City, and the first two came early.

Cason Wallace left in the first quarter with left shoulder soreness and did not return. Reuters reported that he exited less than halfway through the opening period after a collision while coming off a screen. Jaylin Williams also departed in the first quarter, with right wrist soreness, and did not come back.

The Thunder coped with that. Coping without Jalen Williams for any length of time would be a different matter.

NBC Los Angeles reported that Williams had averaged 18 points per game across his first 250 NBA contests before Sunday. He has been an All-Star and an All-NBA player, and he was a major part of the Thunder's 2025 championship team.

There is history here, too. NBC Los Angeles reported that Williams missed 49 games last season because of leg issues, mostly hamstring problems. The sight of towels over his left leg on Sunday will have brought that back for everyone in the building.