NBA Notes: Thunder, Jalen Williams, Lakers, LeBron James, Cavs

Thunder

The biggest storyline hanging over the Thunder right now may be the health of Jalen Williams.

According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Williams is considered day-to-day with a left hamstring injury after exiting Game 2 against the San Antonio Spurs after just seven minutes. The Thunder are expected to reevaluate him one game at a time.

That at least sounds slightly better than the last time Williams hurt the same hamstring. That injury sidelined him for roughly three weeks, including the entire second-round series against the Lakers.

The timing here is rough for Oklahoma City.

Williams had just returned for a physically draining double-overtime Game 1, scoring 26 points while frequently drawing the defensive assignment on Victor Wembanyama.

Whether that workload contributed to the setback remains unclear, but the Thunder suddenly head to San Antonio with the Western Conference finals tied 1-1 and plenty of concern surrounding one of their most important players.

Lakers

In case you missed it, LeBron James says he still has no timetable for deciding whether he’ll return for a 24th NBA season.

Speaking on his “Mind the Game” podcast with Steve Nash, James said he hasn’t spent much time thinking about free agency yet, adding that a family vacation currently sits higher on the priority list.

LeBron also offered a pretty blunt assessment of the Lakers’ playoff exit against Oklahoma City.

“We were not outworked, they didn’t out-physical us, they didn’t outsmart us,” he said. “I feel like we were just out-talented by OKC.”

Considering Luka Doncic missed the postseason with a hamstring injury, James clearly feels the Lakers never really had a fair shot.

Cavaliers

As for the Cavaliers, the Knicks apparently saw one glaring weakness late in Game 1 and attacked it relentlessly.

New York repeatedly hunted switches involving James Harden down the stretch, often forcing him onto Jalen Brunson. Knicks coach Mike Brown admitted afterward, “It was no secret. We were attacking Harden.”

At one point, Brunson wound up seeing Harden on 10 straight possessions. The Knicks scored on eight of them.

Still, Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson strongly defended Harden afterward, insisting Cleveland’s collapse came down to overall team defense rather than one player.

“Without you, we’re knocked out in the first round,” Atkinson said he told Harden afterward. “Keep being yourself.”