2025-26 has been a season marred by injuries for OKC Thunder star, Jalen Williams.
From starting off the campaign sidelined due to offseason wrist surgery to, recently, being shelved yet again with a re-aggravated hamstring strain, health has simply not been on the forward's side during Oklahoma City's title defense tour.
Though many believe the All-Star break should do him a ton of good in the recovery category, as regular-season action is put on pause for seven days, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith still finds himself seriously doubting that Thunder fans will see a fully healthy version of J-Dub this year.
Stephen A. Smith finds it 'hard to believe' Thunder star will get healthy
During a recent episode of First Take, Smith publicly noted that he doesn't "trust" that Williams will ever be at 100 percent health at any point this year.
"He's missed 30 games already this season. I find it hard to believe that he's ever going to be healthy for this year," Smith said.
With this in mind, Smith feels confident in taking "the field" over Oklahoma City when it comes to the current betting odds of who will ultimately be crowned as Western Conference Champions here in 2026, as he stressed just how important the now hobbled Williams was for the Thunder during their run to taking home the Larry O'Brien Trophy in 2025.
"Y'all got to remember, last year [Williams] was one of only two players, him and Evan Mobley, that were named to All-NBA teams and All-NBA Defensive teams. Jalen Williams is a huge piece to Oklahoma City's success [and] any aspirations we've attached to them in terms of a pursuit of back-to-back championships," Smith said.
As noted by the veteran analyst, last year's championship journey saw a truly elite version of Williams who excelled on both ends of the floor, dropping career-best averages of 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.6 steals, and just shy of a block while ranking ninth in the association in defensive rating (106.5) among those who saw 60 or more games played.
His willingness to take on the role of Robin next to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Batman, and his seamless ability to slot in virtually anywhere in the rotation, including starting center, served as a major factor in the Thunder recording the fourth-most wins in league history and, more importantly, raising a banner into the rafters of Paycom Center.
Unfortunately, here in 2025-26, a surgically repaired, stiff wrist and two separate bouts with a nagging hamstring strain have made Williams a shell of himself, as he's averaging just 17.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.3 steals through 29 games played, while ranking a lowly seventh on the team in plus-minus (plus-5.1).
On top of this, with the forward off the floor, Oklahoma City places in the 96 percentile in point differential (plus-13.7), the 95 percentile in opponent points per 100 possessions (106.8), and the 87 percentile in points per 100 possessions (120.4), all of which are significant improvements compared to when he's on the court (89, 91, and 69 percentile, respectively).
With all this in mind, coupled with the recent rise of conference threats like San Antonio (has beaten OKC four times in five games this year), Denver (took Thunder to seven games in last year's playoffs and significantly improved their depth in the offseason), and Houston (reigning number two seed that added Kevin Durant), Stephen A. seems to think it's "fair to take the field in this particular instance."