OKC’s Jalen Williams out as surgically repaired wrist heals

Oklahoma City Thunder star forward Jalen Williams was ruled out of the defending champions’ season opener Tuesday night against the Houston Rockets as he continues to recover from offseason surgery on his right wrist.

Thunder coach Mark Daigneault has been consistently vague regarding Williams’ timetable to return, saying that he is “progressing” and “right on schedule.”

Williams, a third-team All-NBA and second-team All-Defensive selection last season, tore the scapholunate ligament in his wrist on April 9 but delayed the surgery until after Oklahoma City’s championship run. Williams needed almost 30 pain-killing injections on the wrist during the playoffs, when he averaged 21.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists, highlighted by a 40-point performance in the Thunder’s pivotal win in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

“It was a necessary evil to win,” Williams recently told ESPN. “I would’ve cut my hand off to win a championship.”

Williams, who signed a maximum extension of his rookie contract with supermax escalators this summer, said he knew when he underwent surgery in early July that he might not be ready to start the season. He did not begin shooting with his right hand until this month.

Williams declined to specify a timetable.

“Just whenever I feel like I can be a hundred percent, then I’ll rock out,” Williams said during the preseason. “Part of the process is just figuring out how to get my jump shot back. A lot of it is just trying to get feel back.”