Inside The Thunder

Thunder Receive Blow to Front Court on initial Injury Report vs Nuggets

The Oklahoma City Thunder will be without Jaylin Williams, Kenrich Williams and Isaiah Hartenstein against the Denver Nuggets, suffering a blow to their front court for their season opener.

Rylan Stiles

Jaylin Williams is pictured during the Thunder media day at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024.
Jaylin Williams is pictured during the Thunder media day at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. / NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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The Oklahoma City Thunder recieved a blow to their front court on the inital injury report ahead of their season opener against the Denver Nuggets which tips off on Thursday, Oct. 24 at 9 PM CT in Ball Arena. This will be a nationally televised game on TNT.

Ahead of training camp, Kenrich Williams was tabbed as sidelined with a knee injury that required a procedure. Shortly after training camp began, Jaylin Williams was listed as out for the preseason with a hamstring injury.

During the preseason, Isaiah Hartenstein suffered a blow that will sideline him 5-to-6 weeks with a hand injury and Jalen Williams twisted his ankle in the preseason finale that left him as day-to-day. All this on the heels of selecting Nikola Topic with the No. 12 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, who is out for the year with an ACL injury.

On the initial injury - which updates hourly - the OKC Thunder have tabbed Isaiah Hartenstein (Hand), Jaylin Williams (Hamstring), Kenrich Williams (Knee) and Nikola Topic (ACL) all as out. Jalen Williams is not on the injury report at all, revealing he is active for the season opener.

This is a huge blow to the Thunder's front court which now sits at just Chet Holmgren, leaving Mark Daigneault to patch work small ball lineups that we assume will include Ousmane Dieng and Dillon Jones to make it through at least the season opener against the Denver Nuggets.

Denver only tabs DaRon Holmes II as out for this tilt after he suffered an achilies injury in Summer League which will leave him shelved for the entire 2024-25 campaign.

As a piece of optimism, the last three Thunder practices have seen Jaylin Williams go through intense workouts with Thunder assistants, which could indicate how close he is to a return. Though for now, he remains sidelined.

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Rylan Stiles
RYLAN STILES

Rylan Stiles is a credentialed media member covering the Oklahoma City Thunder. He hosts the Locked On Thunder Podcast, and is Lead Beat Writer for Inside the Thunder. Rylan is also an award-winning play-by-play broadcaster for the Oklahoma Sports Network. 

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