Jalen Williams, a forward for the Oklahoma City Thunder, is scheduled to undergo surgery on his right wrist after playing through a torn ligament during the Thunder’s postseason journey to claim their first NBA championship since relocating from Seattle 17 years ago, confirmed GM Sam Presti on Monday.

Williams participated in all 23 playoff games, contributing significantly to the Thunder’s title win, including a personal playoff best of 40 points during a 120-109 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Oklahoma City triumphed over the Pacers in a thrilling seven-game series.

The 24-year-old is anticipated to recover in time for the upcoming season, with Presti stating that Williams missed the final two games of the regular season after logging 36 minutes in a 125-112 win against the Phoenix Suns on April 9.

During the playoffs, Williams often wore a brace on his shooting hand and had it taped during games, resulting in a three-point shooting percentage drop to 30%, which was over 6% lower than his regular season percentage.

“The part that I’m most impressed with is in our modern era when someone has a poor performance or they’re not playing to their capability in a game and there’s a lot of attention on it, you often see a little birdie make sure that everybody knows that the player is not 100 percent,” Presti noted in a post-season meeting with reporters. “Never happened with this guy, not one time. He powered through. He showed incredible mental endurance and security in himself.”

A first-time All-Star in his third season, Williams was drafted 12th overall out of Santa Clara in 2022, posting career-highs of 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.1 assists.