Jaylen Clark says he's 'good' after hitting head on court against OKC

Timberwolves rookie Jaylen Clark appeared to hit his head on the court pretty hard during a scary moment in the third quarter of Sunday night's game against the Thunder. He was ruled out for the rest of the game with neck pain, but Clark tweeted late last night that he's "good."

I’m good thanks for everyone reaching out🫶🏽
— Jaylen (@jayl7en) February 24, 2025

What exactly that means for his timeline to return to action is unclear, but it's presumably not something he would've posted if the team doctors had diagnosed him with a serious head or neck injury. The Wolves play the Thunder again on Monday night to kick off a four-game road trip that continues on Thursday against the Lakers.

Update: Clark is officially QUESTIONABLE to play on Monday night, per the team. The fact that he hasn't been ruled out for that game would seem to be a very encouraging sign.

The play Clark got hurt on was a drive to the basket against Isaiah Hartenstein midway through the third. He fell to the ground and was unable to brace himself as his head snapped back and hit the hardwood. Play continued on with Clark holding his head in both arms underneath the basket.

Pretty incredible the NBA doesn't have a rule that stops play when a player has a head injury.
— Alan Horton (@WolvesRadio) February 24, 2025

Prior to the injury, Clark was playing extremely well in a nationally-televised game against the best team in the Western Conference. Making his second NBA start, he had 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting and a whopping four steals in just 18 minutes. The Wolves had won his minutes by 20 points. With how he was flying around on defense and chipping in impressively on offense, it's entirely possible Minnesota wins that game if he doesn't get hurt. Instead, they lost 130-123.

Jaylen Clark is so special pic.twitter.com/83IWdGIwci
— Wolves Lead (@TWolvesLead) February 24, 2025

Clark was the 2022-23 national defensive player of the year in college basketball as a junior at UCLA. He tore his ACL late that season and was drafted 53rd overall by the Wolves, who knew he was going to miss an entire season. Since entering the rotation for the first time in late January, Clark has been a revelation. He's an incredibly active defender both on and off the ball (he now has nine steals over the last three games) who is also shooting 42 percent from three-point range on a fairly small sample size.

The Wolves could potentially be without Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and Clark for Monday night's rematch in Oklahoma City. It's a 7 p.m. CT game.

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