The Oklahoma City Thunder star underwent wrist surgery Tuesday and will be re-evaluated in approximately 12 weeks, the team said.
Williams tore a ligament in his right wrist before the Thunder’s championship run, general manager Sam Presti said on Monday.
Williams played all 23 post-season games in helping the Thunder win their first NBA title since moving to Oklahoma from Seattle 17 years ago. He scored a playoff career-high 40 points in a 120-109 win over Indiana in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Oklahoma City beat the Indiana Pacers in seven games.
The 24-year-old is expected to be ready for next season, Presti said. Williams was inactive for the final two games of the regular season after playing 36 minutes in a 125-112 victory over Phoenix on April 9.
Williams wore a wrist brace on his shooting hand at times during the playoffs and had it taped during games. He shot just 30 per cent from three-point range in the playoffs, more than six per cent 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 per cent,” Presti said during his season-ending 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 after the Thunder drafted him 12th overall out of Santa Clara in 2022, Williams averaged career bests of 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.1 assists.
–with files from The Associated Press
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