The OKC Thunder may be the newest NBA Champions, but the road to ultimate glory was far from a joy ride -- at least, not for the likes of Jalen Williams.
Soon after Oklahoma City took home their first Larry O'Brien Trophy, news broke that their All-Star forward would undergo surgery on his right wrist after consistently playing through a torn ligament during the club's title run.
The ailment was kept under wraps throughout the postseason, and Williams recently revealed it was his decision not to disclose the information.
However, in his injury explanation video posted to YouTube earlier this week, J-Dub admitted a rather heartbreaking side effect of keeping his injury a secret from the world.
Thunder star says world 'ganged up on me' for injury-induced struggles
In his video, the Thunder star admitted to taking "28 or 29" pain-killing injections in his hand throughout the postseason.
The pain got so severe, in fact, that he even claimed to have "basically changed my jump shot," focusing on prioritizing the use of his fingertips rather than his whole hand so his follow-through wasn't as prominent.
Taking part in a form-changing shakeup such as this is bound to have a mixed bag of results, especially given the pain felt in his dominant shooting hand.
These up-and-down struggles were on full display during their playoff excursion, though, considering no one knew about the injury, everyone, including us at TI, speculated that it may have been a sign that the third-year pro wasn't yet ready for the pressure of being the second option on a title-favorite team.
For Williams, this was the hardest part of the whole situation.
"I didn't want to tell the world that I was hurt, and so the world just kind of ganged up on me about how I wasn't ready to handle the moment, which obviously is wrong now. That was the most annoying thing," Williams said.
Even with all his private and public tribulations during the postseason, Williams still proved himself to be a vital contributor toward the Thunder's championship run, dropping a whopping 40 points in their Game 5 win over Indiana while averaging an impressive 23.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists throughout the seven-game showdown.
Now, with the series already in the books and a title officially secured, the recovering star is more than confident in his standing as the 1B to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's 1A with the Thunder, even saying in his video, "We won a championship, so you can say whatever you want to say now."
While the agony of being ridiculed along the way may have been intense and perhaps unbearable at times, in the end, Jalen Williams finds himself emerging from the 2024-25 season as both an NBA Champion and, presumably in the next few days, a $200 million-plus man.
All things considered, such an outcome seems to be far from a bad trade off.