Nate Oats Details Injury Updates for Latrell Wrightsell Jr., Jalil Bethea

The Alabama head coach shares the latest on two of his guards, as the Crimson Tide's first game of the regular season is less than one month away.

Alabama Crimson Tide guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (3) smiles while jogging onto the court Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, during the NCAA men’s basketball game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind. Purdue Boilermakers won 87-78. | Alex Martin/Journal and Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama men's basketball is less than two weeks away from playing its exhibition game against Florida State in Birmingham.

As the season nears, Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats provided an injury update for guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr., who ruptured his Achilles early last season.

"He's been unbelievably great in the whole rehab process," Oats said. "I think he's coming along. He's probably where he needs to be. We didn't practice him today. We kind of had him on a little bit of a load management deal bringing him back so he don't injure himself somewhere else.

"He hasn't been able to do that much stuff for almost a year. He's been back. He's been doing some live stuff a little bit. Obviously we keep his reps short. "But I think he's in a great place. [Alabama trainer] Clarke [Holter] has done a great job. Dr. [Norman] Waldrop has done a great job with him. Hopefully we get him back soon."

Oats said on Sept. 5 that Wrightsell was cleared for non-contact work and is "doing some basic basketball activities." It is currently unknown when he'll be able to play in a game, however, on May 14, Oats explained that "we anticipate him being fully ready to go by the first game [of the regular season]." This would be Alabama's home matchup against North Dakota on Nov. 3.

Alabama guard Jalil Bethea is expected to miss some time after suffering a foot injury during a practice in mid-September. After the injury occurred, Oats shared that "While there is no timetable for Bethea’s return, we do not anticipate this injury is season ending and we expect him to return this year.”

Fast forward to Monday, Oats gave an update on Bethea's recovery.

"Hopefully he comes back soon, because he was starting to figure it out when he got hurt," Oats said. "Hopefully we get him back, because he's super talented."

Bethea transferred to Alabama from Miami on April 6. He is one of the Crimson Tide's five 2025-26 offseason transfer additions.

In 31 games (16 starts) last season in 18.9 minutes per game, Bethea averaged 7.1 points on 36.8 percent from the field and 32.6 percent from deep, with 2.1 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 0.6 steals. Nevertheless, last was a season to forget for the Hurricanes as Miami finished 7-24 (3-17 ACC).

The highly touted transfer portal target chose Alabama over Kansas State, NC State and a potential return to the Hurricanes. Bethea will be a sophomore in 2025-26 after spending his first collegiate year in Miami.