Thunder star Jalen Williams to make season debut Friday vs. Suns

The Oklahoma City Thunder have gotten off to a dominant start to the 2025-26 NBA season, currently sitting at 18-1 following Wednesday’s thrilling win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Making matters even more impressive for the Thunder is that they’ve done all of this with their second best player, Jalen Williams, sidelined as he recovers from offseason wrist surgery.

However, on Thursday, the team got a positive update on Williams’ status.

“Just in: Thunder All-NBA guard Jalen Williams is off the injury report and will make his season debut against the Phoenix Suns on Friday night in OKC, multiple sources tell ESPN. Williams recovered from wrist surgery after playing through a torn ligament in the 2025 title run,” reported ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania on X, formerly Twitter.

Williams was a huge part of the Thunder’s run to the NBA title last year, including scoring 40 points in Game 5 against the Indiana Pacers to help the Thunder take control of the series. While the Thunder are clearly able to still win games consistently without him, he still adds another level of depth and secondary playmaking to the team, and will certainly help them out when they prepare to defend their NBA title in April.

In any case, the Thunder and Suns are set to tip off what will be Williams’ debut on Friday evening at 9:30 pm ET. After that, the Thunder will hit the road to take on the Portland Trail Blazers, against the opponent who handed them their lone loss of the season so far.

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