OKLAHOMA CITY – San Antonio ruled starting guard De’Aaron Fox out of Monday night’s Western Conference finals opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder because of right ankle soreness, meaning adversity hit the Spurs in the much-anticipated series before it even started.
The Thunder, meanwhile, got Jalen Williams back in their lineup after he missed six games with a left hamstring strain.
And in the end, the Spurs found a way anyway — winning 122-115 in double overtime, behind a 41-point, 24-rebound night from Victor Wembanyama and a 24-point, 11-rebound, six-assist, seven-steal gem from rookie Dylan Harper, who took Fox's spot.
Fox spoke at the Spurs’ morning shootaround session Monday — “trying to test it out,” he said — and was on the court again in Oklahoma City about 90 minutes before tip-off of Game 1. That second workout obviously didn’t go as hoped, and the decision was made that he wouldn’t play.
Fox was averaging 18.8 points and 5.8 assists in a team-leading 33.3 minutes per game for the Spurs in these playoffs entering Monday. The Spurs haven’t revealed any specifics on the nature of the ankle issue, simply calling it soreness.
“It’s one of those deals where it’s not going away for as long as we’re playing, I don’t believe,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said.
The Spurs put Harper into the starting lineup in Fox's place, alongside Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell and Julian Champagnie — all of them 25 or younger. The Spurs said it was the youngest starting lineup in the history of the NBA's conference finals.
Fox missed the first eight Spurs games of the season — and missed only three games since. The Spurs are now 8-3 without Fox this season.
The Thunder went with what would be considered their typical starting lineup: Williams with two-time Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein.
Williams missed 55 of the Thunder’s first 90 games this season entering Monday, including playoffs. Of those absences, 19 were for a right wrist issue and the other 36 were related to his hamstrings — the right one costing him 30 games during the regular season, the left one costing him the most recent six before Monday in this playoff run.
Ajay Mitchell filled in seamlessly during the six playoff games that Williams missed, taking the vacated starting spot and averaging 21.2 points — second-best on the team in that span, behind only Gilgeous-Alexander — on 48% shooting.
Mitchell had four points in 34 minutes on Monday.
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