OKC Thunder Get Transparent Regarding Jalen Williams Wrist

This has been a trying season for Oklahoma City Thunder swingman Jalen Williams.

The Santa Clara product last year suffered torn ligaments in his wrist in the third to last game of the regular season before playing on that injured wrist for another three months en route to bringing a championship back to Oklahoma City. Williams was vital and second only to superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the biggest reason why a banner hangs in the Paycom Center today. Doing that through wrist injections, leaning on a high pain tolerance and a reworked jump shot on the fly while putting together a 40 point night in the NBA Finals in one of the best game by any player in franchise history, can not go unnoticed.

Williams could have elected to have surgery after that Suns game back in April and protected himself. Instead, he fought his guts out for months on end to bring his teammates and this city a ring. That delayed his surgery until June and yet he clearly spent the summer putting in work on the rehab trail to return this season after missing just 19 games.

In these 20 games, the 24-year-old is averaging 17.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, a career-high 5.8 assists and 1.8 stocks per game while shooting 46% from the floor, 28% from 3-point land and 84% at the charity stripe.

These are clear step-backs from the totals he posted in his first All-Star and All-NBA campaign a year ago, which is more than explainable. Not only is he still getting his sealegs under him following two offseason procedures, but he has only had 20 games' worth of reps, with very limited practice time and missing the entire training camp portion to get right.

It is only a matter of time before Williams finds himself again, the question is how much time? No one knows the answer to that. The benefit to the Bricktown Ballers is the fact that they sit at 32-7, a five game lead on the No. 2 seed in the West, and have four months to put all their focus in getthing the Santa Clara product ready for the playoffs.

"It's obviously been a little bit up and down with just the touch and the range of motion, which is not a surprise to anybody, at least internally. We're happy to have him back because it gets him reintegrated with the team. He's an impactful player on two ends of the floor. The best version of our team includes everybody, especially him, with the impact that he has and the versatility he brings. He's coming around with the shooting touch, but the floor for his game is so high just because of what he does for us on offense, on defense, from a versatility standpoint, and what he does to our lineups. He opens up kind of a lot of possibilities for us, and so having him back is critical," Head coach Mark Daigneault said pregame in Memphis.

There is no one more frustrate with the process than the swingman himself. You can only imagine the physical and mental toll that takes on someone who knows what their talents allow them to be capable of but at times just can not get their body to perform properly coming off this injury.

“It sucks. It’s a very annoying process. Nobody is going to be more frustrated than me when shots are short. It’s one of those things I gotta learn throughout the game. It’s not like I’m on a bad team where I can jack 40 shots and figure it out that way… This injury is not something where you get two hand surgeries and you’re good to go. It’s over the course over the year, a year and a half and have summers to really figure it out,” Williams explained at practice on Saturday afternoon.

Honestly, no one should be frustrted with Williams. He continues to embody the same lunch pail attitude and put the work in to be ready for the bright lights and just needs time. It can never be forgotten that he didn't owe anyone a three month period of playing the most intense NBA basketball with torn ligaments in his wrist. You must acknowledge what a sacrifice that was and how that has played a part in this slow start.

“It’s a circumstance that’s less than ideal. It’s forcing him to work through that. Give himself some grace, put the work in day by day — even though the changes day by day may not be drastic. Focus on the other things that he can do to impact the game outside of things that require full range of motion of his right wrist," Daigneault detailed on Saturday.

To Williams credit, he has been a much improved passer this season consistently across his 20 games. On Friday in Memphis, the Santa Clara product relentlessly got downhill to have a 12 point final frame on 71% shooting and lift Oklahoma City to their biggest comeback win of the season. As Daigneault points out, you just have to see the fourth year swingman continue to find other routes to improving this team.