Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell out for critical Game 5 matchup vs. Spurs due to calf injury

Ajay Mitchell will have to watch another Western Conference finals game from the bench. 

The Oklahoma City Thunder ruled Mitchell out for Game 5 of their series with the San Antonio Spurs on Monday afternoon with a calf strain. Mitchell missed the Thunder’s Game 4 loss to the Spurs with the injury, too. 

The Thunder also said on Monday that Jalen Williams is questionable for Game 5 due to hamstring injury management. Williams was also held out of Sunday night’s 103-82 loss to the Spurs, which tied the series up 2-2. 

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According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Thunder are evaluating both players on a day-to-day basis. While Mitchell has already been ruled out, Williams’ status for Tuesday night is “up in the air.” 

With both Mitchell and Williams sidelined, Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs had little issue rolling to a dominant win on Sunday at the Frost Bank Center. Wembanyama dropped 33 points and had eight rebounds in the outing. They shut down Oklahoma City offensively, too, and limited the Thunder to just six made 3-pointers and 33% shooting from the field. 

Having both Mitchell and Williams out for Tuesday night’s contest at the Paycom Center would be a significant blow for the Thunder. Mitchell finished fifth in the Sixth Man of the Year voting this season, and he put up 21.2 points and 5.3 assists in the first two rounds of the playoffs while helping the Thunder to back-to-back series sweeps. Williams has played in just four playoff games this postseason. He averaged 17.1 points and 5.5 assists throughout the regular season. 

If the Spurs can take advantage of the shorthanded Thunder again on Tuesday night, they’ll be just a single win away from knocking off the defending champions and securing what would be their first trip to the NBA Finals since 2014.