Oklahoma City Thunder are looking to repeat this season after their great run to the franchise’s first ever title. They are looking like that kind of team who will go back to back at the start of the season but coach Mark Daigneault admits things are getting tougher. Not that they are thinking it will be a cake walk for them.
The situation that could potentially make things hard for them concerns Jalen Williams who already made a sacrifice for their first ever ring. He was dealing with a wrist injury in April last year but played through and obviously, it paid off.
He is back with the team after delaying his start to the new season. He had two surgeries over the summer – to repair the injury and to remove the screw on the concerned hand.
Daigneault is concerned with Williams who was recently spotted wearing gloves to continue the rehab of his wrist. The 2025 All-Star said the gloves help him a lot.
“Honestly, I saw PJ Washington using it. So I was like, it looked pretty cool. Just try everything and see what it was,” he said as quoted by Justin Martine of the Oklahoman.
“It was cool. Like, my hand was warm. I think some of it too was that I have to mold my hand, so the warmer my hand is, the looser some of muscles are. I don’t have to do too much to it.”
Jalen Williams is wearing a heated glove on his right shooting wrist tonight when he’s not in the game. He spoke yesterday about continuing to work through the injury:
“This injury is not something where you get it, have two hand surgeries and then it’s, ‘Alright, you’re good to… pic.twitter.com/azob4ZGaeT
— Justin Martinez (@Justintohoops) January 12, 2026
Williams was OKC’s second best scorer last year. He also made his firs ever All-Star game ever.
He missed 19 games this year and his scoring dropped to 17.6 from last year’s 21.6.
Mark Daigneault has faith J-Dub can reinvent
His shooting percentages this season isn’t that far from what he recorded from the season before. However, with the fewer points and fewer games played, it still tells a story.
Many thought he hasn’t played like an All-Star level.
Daigneault admits Williams’ situation is tough and thought he should try to affect the game without forcing outside shots.
“It’s a circumstance that’s less than ideal. It’s forcing him to work through that. Give himself some grace, put the work in day by day — even though the changes day by day may not be drastic,” Daigneault said through Clemente Almanza of OKC Thunder Wire.
“Focus on the other things that he can do to impact the game outside of things that require the full range of motion of his right wrist.”
He also expressed confidence that Williams will rise above this challenge.
“Every circumstance is a challenge and opportunity. Depends on how you look at it,” Daigneault said. “It’s his challenge right now to look at it as an opportunity. We’re confident he will.”
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