Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star Jalen Williams took a significant step in his rehab from a torn wrist injury. After Williams revealed playing with a torn ligament in his right wrist throughout the Thunder's championship postseason run, he underwent surgery during the offseason. Jalen was seen wearing the brace at various events throughout the summer until a recent video on social media showed J-Dub working out without it.
Then, Williams confirmed he's no longer wearing the protective brace for his right wrist on his X, formerly Twitter.
“that seems to be the case,” Williams confirmed in response to someone asking if he's been cleared to play without wearing the brace.
After he helped lead the Thunder to its first championship, Williams agreed to a $287 million max contract extension, joining MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren as Oklahoma City retained its core's future. In only his third NBA season, Williams not only won his first championship but also earned his first All-Star selection, first All-Defensive Second Team nod, and first All-NBA Third Team honors.
Jalen Williams' reveals wrist injury after Thunder title run
Thunder All-Star Jalen Williams revealed he sustained the wrist injury ahead of the postseason. Electing to avoid surgery, which would have ended his season, he took exteme measures to play despite the discomfort. Williams explained his process throughout the playoffs in an interview with The Old Man and The Three podcast.
“He's like I tore it. So, immediately, the first thought is like, well, can I still play, or did I just ruin the season? It took, I'd say, a day and a half, and we kind of came up with a plan to talk to Dr. Chin, who did my surgery,” Williams said. “He's like the GOAT at doing this exact surgery and stuff. He's like, “You can play through it and get shots, and you can't do anything worse to it.” So, that gave me a lot of confidence to go out there and just figure out how to shoot through the pain.”
From there, Williams worked through the pain while testing out his new shot.
“We tried to figure out different pain levels, different ways to shoot,” Williams added. “I'm like teaching myself to shoot like a week before the playoffs. Our medical staff did a good job with that.”
"I'm like teaching myself to shoot like a week before the playoffs."
Jalen Williams on playing through a torn ligament in his wrist throughout the Thunder's title run 🗣️
(via @OldManAndThree)pic.twitter.com/bH7ODqoRQI
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) July 17, 2025
Williams shined in the postseason. He averaged 21.4 points at a 44.9% clip, 5.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 1.4 steals throughout the playoffs — which was punctuated by a playoff career-high 40 points in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
