Injury-plagued Blazers center sidelined by hamstring strain

It’s a disappointing development for Williams, who has been plagued by injuries over the course of his NBA career. He's played more than 35 regular-season games just twice in six years. However, he has made a significant on-court impact when healthy, earning a spot on the All-Defensive second team in Boston in 2022.

After undergoing knee surgery last fall that ended his season early and limited him to just six appearances in 2023-24, Williams had been taking part in five-on-five scrimmages in recent weeks and was expected to be ready for the start of the 2024-25 season. He was a full practice participant on Tuesday, but evidently that’s when the hamstring injury occurred as he sat out Wednesday’s practice with soreness.

Williams’ latest injury means he will be sidelined for the rest of training camp and will almost certainly miss Portland’s three preseason games as well with the finale set for Oct. 18, exactly two weeks from Friday. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t be a big story since the regular season is what really matters, but Williams hasn’t played in a game in 11 months and soft-tissue injuries can be problematic even in best-case scenarios.

What’s less clear is if Williams’ absence will extend into the 2024-25 regular season. The Blazers’ season opener is on Oct. 23 with six additional games running through Nov. 2, approximately four weeks from now. The team will likely want to err on the side of caution after how much time he’s missed the past couple of seasons.

If Williams does miss some regular season games, rookie lottery pick Donovan Clingan is the most obvious candidate to receive backup center minutes behind Deandre Ayton.

The 27th overall pick of the 2018 draft, Williams is under contract for two more seasons. He’ll make $12.4M in 2024-25, followed by $13.3M in 2025-26 before hitting free agency.