OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — 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.
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 Dylan 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 entered Monday with a 7-3 record 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 two-time reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — on 48% shooting.
The Thunder entered Monday 27-8 when Williams plays this season, 45-10 when he doesn’t.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, right, talks to guard Jalen Williams, left, before a news conference after Gilgeous-Alexander was named the NBA basketball MVP as guard Cason Wallace, back right, looks on, Sunday, May 17, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) celebrates a score with guard De'aaron Fox (4) during the first half of Game 6 of an NBA basketball second-round playoffs series in Minneapolis, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
San Antonio Spurs guard De'aaron Fox (4) reacts after scoring against the Minnesota Timberwolves during the second half of Game 6 of an NBA basketball second-round playoffs series in Minneapolis, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Adam Scott officially is set for his 100th consecutive major next month in the U.S. Open, which added 24 players to the field from the world ranking on Monday. Sixteen players also earned spots at qualifiers in England and Dallas.
Scott effectively secured his spot among the top 60 in the world with a tie for fourth in the Cadillac Championship at Doral. He is at No. 49 in this week's ranking, which the U.S. Open uses to determine who avoids qualifying.
Others exempt through the top 60 in the world ranking include Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed and Alex Smalley, who tied for second in the PGA Championship to move up 36 spots to No. 42.
Matti Schmid, who had the lead during the final round of the PGA Championship and wound up in a tie for fourth, earned one of five exemptions awarded to leading players in the FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour who were not already exempt.
The exemptions finalized Monday meant 70 players in the 156-man field will be forced to qualify, an unusually low number for a major that prefers that roughly half the field go through qualifying. The U.S. Open is June 18-21 at Shinnecock on New York's Long Island.
Adding to the field Monday were two final qualifying events.
Nathan Kimsey of England had a 62 in his second round at Walton Heath to earn one of seven spots out of England. He will be making his U.S. Open debut.
Kimsey was joined by Rocco Repetto Taylor, Filippo Celli, Matthew Jordan, Angel Hidalgo, Niklas Norgaard and Ugo Coussaud, who earned the final spot in a 4-for-1 playoff.
Thomas Detry ended nine days of U.S. Open misfortune by losing out in England playoff, and missing out in the bid for two alternate spots.
Detry was set to earn an exemption from LIV Golf until Lucas Herbert won in Virginia on May 10. He was at No. 61 in the world going into the PGA Championship but missed a 12-foot birdie putt on his final hole to miss the cut by one shot. And then he flew to London.
All is not lost. Detry still has two tournaments — the Soudal Open this week in his native Belgium and LIV Golf Korea the following week — to move into the top 60 before the final cutoff for the world ranking on June 14.
The Dallas qualifier — the first of 11 to be held in North America over the next month — featured Sergio Garcia among 14 players from LIV Golf.
LIV's Peter Uihlein won the qualifier and was one of three LIV players to get through, joined by 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell and Caleb Surratt. McDowell who will play in the championship for the first time since 2020, the last year of his exemption for winning at Pebble Beach a decade earlier.
Garcia fell two shots short of a six-way playoff for the last spot, won by Surratt. The other players to qualify at Dallas Athletic Club were Tom Kim, Cooper Dossey, Manav Shah, Jimmy Stanger, Adrien Dumont de Chassart and TK Kim.
Scott's streak began with the 2001 British Open, and he has not missed a major since, even going through U.S. Open qualifying when he wasn't exempt. It's the longest streak since Jack Nicklaus played in 146 in a row, from the 1962 Masters through the 1998 U.S. Open.
Scott's one close call was breaking a bone in his hand before the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, but he played — grouped with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in the opening two rounds — and tied for 26th that week.
“I would rather win some stuff, and let’s celebrate winning the U.S. Open than just playing in it,” Scott said three weeks ago. “I can give myself a pat on the back for hanging in there and playing all these events. I think there’s some luck in it, but I think I’ve had generally great advice around me from a physical and training standpoint that’s kept me healthy and pretty much injury-free.”
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Alex Smalley hits from the fourth tee during the final round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Aronimink Golf Club, Sunday, May 17, 2026, in Newtown Square, PA. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Matti Schmid, of Germany, hits from the bunker on the 13th green during the final round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Aronimink Golf Club, Sunday, May 17, 2026, in Newtown Square, PA. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Adam Scott, of Australia, looks at his ball on the 10th green during the second round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Aronimink Golf Club, Friday, May 15, 2026, in Newtown Square, PA. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
