Last week kind of stunned every Oklahoma Sooners fan, as John Mateer had surgery on his thumb by Dr. Shinn in Los Angeles, California. His timetable is still unexpected, but now everyone wants to know about the surgery and just how successful we can expect it to be.
It’s safe to say one Oklahoma legend knows what he’s going through, as he had surgery by Shinn as well.
“He did Kobe’s [Bryant]… All you need to know… He’s awesome,” OKC Thunder star and legend Jalen Williams said at Media Day on Monday.
Williams played with an injured wrist in the NBA Finals and had a similar performance to Mateer. While Mateer threw 11 straight completions with a broken thumb on his throwing hand to win the game, Williams played through his wrist injury, dropping 40 points in the NBA Finals.
Both Mateer and Williams are of major importance to the OKC metro area
Sure, Norman isn’t Oklahoma City, but it’s in the metro area, and if you live in Norman, you’re also an OKC Thunder fan, your reigning 2025 NBA Champions. Williams helped the city win its first championship, and did so with some pretty crazy performances on both ends of the court.
After they won the NBA Finals, he had surgery, much like Mateer did after the game was finished. Williams is a guy that a ton of people in the city and in that organization are counting on. When it comes to the NBA’s best team, Williams is their second-best player, behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. At Media Day on Monday, Williams mentioned that he’s feeling good, and that’s perfect for both Sooners fans and Thunder fans, which may be the same fans.
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As for Mateer, we don’t know much, if anything yet, other than what Mateer tweeted out after the surgery, where he called Shinn the “GOAT,” or Greatest Of All Time. Based on what Williams said, where he did procedures on one of the greatest NBA players of all time, Jalen Williams, and then some guy named Kobe Bryant, it lets you know that he’s the real deal.
So, everyone should probably feel pretty good about the surgery and the recovery process moving forward.