There's no denying that OKC Thunder star Jalen Williams looked healthy for the first time in a long time during Tuesday's season-opening win over the Spurs.
From his steady ball handling and strong defensive play to the sheer fact that he was visibly playing with fluidity and confidence in his movement, J-Dub showed serious signs that he may finally be on the brink of returning to his All-Star form following an injury-plagued 2025-26 campaign.
Of course, by the looks of things, the one thing that still may be holding him back is his depleted shooting touch.
Thunder star needs to find his shooting touch to get back to All-Star form
Ever since he had surgery to repair a torn scapholunate ligament in his right wrist, Williams' shooting stroke has taken a nosedive.
Last season, he shot a measly 37.3 percent from the mid-range and an even worse 29.9 percent clip from beyond the arc. Considering he wrapped up the prior season with splits of 45.9 percent and 36.5 percent, respectively, his injury seems to have had a direct impact on his shooting success.
Now, well over a year removed from going under the knife, Williams has yet to find his groove in this department, particularly from beyond the arc, as he wrapped up his preseason with a 25.0 percent clip from the perimeter and, while he managed to hit one of his two attempts from deep in game one of the regular season, he still appeared rather uncomfortable with shooting from such a distance.
On many occasions, he passed up wide-open looks from three-point land for either a middy or a drive to the rim.
Again, it's undeniable that Williams looked impressive right out of the gate on Tuesday night and flashed the two-way, highly versatile skill set that helped officially make him a star two years ago.
However, in order to get back to his pre-injury status, one where he was widely regarded as the 11-best player in the association, he needs to tap back into his once lethal shooting groove.
Thunder star confident his offense will improve as season goes on
Following Tuesday's bout against San Antonio, Williams acknowledged that while he feels "great" on defense, his offense still needs to get into a rhythm.
To him, the reason for this is not necessarily any residual effects from wrist surgery but, rather, figuring out how to reintegrate himself into the rotation after basically not playing "for a whole year" and now having to learn to play with not just his returning teammates, but the slew of newcomers as well.
Fortunately, he's more than confident his offense will improve as the season progresses, as he said that while "I’m trying to still pick my spots and figure out what my spots even are," he expects "it’ll be a pretty quick adjustment."
Hopefully, we may even see a step in the right direction in Thursday's game two matchup against the Nuggets.
Add us as a preferred source on Google