Jalen Williams is testing a hot new solution to his wrist injury problem

Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star Jalen Williams he will try all new methods to relieve the pain in his right wrist. For reasons that have not been hushed up Williams’ harsh critics during his first 21 games since his second surgery, the All-Defensive forward has used a heated pad on his right arm between substitutions as a means of keeping the muscles relaxed. In the Thunder’s 124-112 win against the Miami Heat, he used a heated glove instead.

Williams saw Dallas Mavericks forward PJ Washington use a heated glove, which started the ideahe said, after beating the Heat on Sunday.

“Honestly, I saw PJ Washington use it. It looked pretty cool,” Williams said. “Just trying everything; look what happened. It really wasn’t much of it — just a heated glove. Just trying something other than a hot pad. I’m going to try it. It’s the first game. It was cool. My hand was warm. I need to warm up my (right) hand. The warmer my hand is, the looser some of my muscles are.

“So I don’t have to work on it as much. People probably see me flex it during the game and stuff. It sets up quick. So the glove was cool.”

Williams had his best night of the season, finishing with 18 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Jalen says he will continue to use it to see if its positive effects are long-term.

Jaylen Williams calls out his harshest critics after Thunder win

Thunder All Star Jalen Williams discovered his harshest critics are on X (formerly Twitter), he said, after Sunday’s win against the Heat. Williams is still feeling the effects of wrist surgerywhich will not disappear this season. But he won’t let it affect his production as Jalen continues to adjust amid the final stages of his recovery.

Williams also hears from his harshest critics on social media, he said, during his postgame media availability.

“I thought I was my own biggest critic. Maybe Twitter,” Williams said. “I’m just taking it day by day. Mark was good about just saying it’s going to take time. What I have is not like (something), 100 people running around with this injury, nor do they have that many people who have had to have surgery twice. So it’s one of those things that I can look at as a new opportunity to show people who eventually have to go through it that at some point it’s possible to be human.

“So that’s how I looked at it. Like all things, it takes time. But I’ll figure it out. I’ll be able to get my head around it and get everything else going.”

Williams and the Thunder will host the Spurs at the Pike Center on Tuesday.