Fox, Harper cleared for Game 3, Williams out for Thunder-Spurs

The availability update landed 45 minutes before tipoff and changed the shape of Game 3 immediately: De'Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper were cleared for the Spurs, while Jalen Williams was ruled out for the Thunder. In a series where Game 1 went to double overtime and both openers were decided by fewer than 10 points, that kind of late switch was not a side note. It was the leverage point.

Fox had missed the first two games after his right leg was rolled on in San Antonio’s round-clinching win over Minnesota on May 15. Harper sat out Game 2 after landing awkwardly and leaving with right adductor soreness with 4:50 left in the third quarter. Williams, meanwhile, had already missed six postseason games with a hamstring injury before returning in Game 1, where he scored 26 points and grabbed seven rebounds. He then exited Game 2 after about seven minutes with tightness in his left hamstring.

That made the guard and wing math of Game 3 very different on each sideline. Fox’s return gave San Antonio a downhill creator who could steady possessions and draw help into the lane. Harper’s clearance added another live dribble, another player who could rebound and push, and another option to keep the offense from leaning on one ball-handler. Harper had flashed that two-way impact in Game 1 with 24 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and seven steals, a line that showed how much space he can occupy beyond simple scoring.

Oklahoma City lost the opposite kind of player. Williams is not just a scorer, he is a connector who can handle, rebound and punish switches without slowing the offense. Without him, the Thunder had to spread shot creation farther down the rotation and ask more from lineups that could not afford a cold stretch. That mattered against a Spurs team trying to make every possession count and against a series already defined by one-possession swings.

Game 3 still turned hard and fast. San Antonio opened with a 15-0 run, but Oklahoma City answered with a night built on depth, taking a 123-108 win behind 76 bench points. The result pushed the Thunder into a 2-1 series lead and showed how much the series had become about who could keep creating when the margins got tight. Game 4 was set for Sunday, May 24, in San Antonio, with the injury ledger still at the center of the matchup.