Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams, who has missed the last six Thunder playoff games — including the entire sweep of the Lakers in the second round — says he is healthy and will be back for the Western Conference Finals against San Antonio.
Williams discussed it on Friday on his YouTube channel (hat tip to Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman).
“I haven’t had to rush back from my hamstring stuff at all. I’m actually taking extra days now then what was even originally planned because we were up 3-0 [against the Lakers], so there was no point in going into this series and possibly hurting myself before we have to play the Timberwolves or the Spurs. I’m about to go into another series healthy.”
Health has been elusive for Williams this season. He missed time at the start of the season recovering from off-season wrist surgery, then suffered a hamstring strain during the season, resulting in him playing in a career-low 33 games. When he did play, he averaged 17.1 points, 5.5 assists and 4.6 rebounds a game, while shooting just 29.9% from 3-point range, all numbers well off his previous, All-NBA season.
Not that the Thunder missed a beat. In the last round against the Lakers, Ajay Mitchell started in his place and averaged 22.5 points and six assists per game, and OKC swept LeBron James and the shorthanded Lakers out of the playoffs.
More than scoring, a return of Williams gives Oklahoma City another high-level defender with good positional size (6’5″ as a wing), something needed against the young and athletic Spurs. That said, with the way Mitchell is playing, look for him to get a lot of minutes — Williams isn’t returning and playing 40 minutes a night. Still, the Thunder just got deeper and better for the biggest series of the postseason.