After missing all of last season due to knee surgery, Steven Adams has been active for only four of the Missiles‘ first nine games this season, including his return to Oklahoma City on Friday. The veteran center is fully supportive of him not playing every game, and acknowledges that his recovery from last year’s surgery is an ongoing process that must be handled carefully, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required).

“As you progress, you feel a little better,” said Adams. ‘It’s normal to think that you can just do whatever you want. But that’s not the case because we have this new confidence, because then it would cause a pretty serious setback. So we can just be real about it and just clearly lean on the advice and the overall process that we’ve put in place and kind of just trust that.

Going into Friday’s game, Adams had averaged just 12.3 minutes per game over three appearances, well below his career average of 26.8 MPG. The big man likely won’t come close to that goal this season, but he could see his role expanded to some extent if he can get through the first few weeks of the season without any health-related setbacks. So far things are going so well on that front.

“I feel good,” Adams said prior to Friday’s game with the Thunder, according to Feigen. “It’s fun to be there, good to get some reps with the guys.”

We have more from around the Western Conference:

• In a separate story for The Houston Chronicle, Feigen writes that the Missiles display Cam Whitmore‘s assignment to the G League not as a demotion, but as an indication that they are taking his development seriously. “When we send a player to (the Rio Grande Valley Vipers), it is precisely because we value him and the playing time he gets there,” general manager Rafael Steen said, noting that the Vipers use the same system as the Rockets. “We see it very much as an opportunity.” Whitmore played NBA rotation minutes for much of his rookie season, but the return of Tari Eason and the addition of Reed Sheppard has made it harder to get playing time for the second-year guard this fall.
• The Lakers made a change to their lineup on Friday, with Cam Reddish to take D’Angelo Russell‘s place in the starting five. According to Spectrum SportsNet sideline reporter Mike Trudell (Twitter link), head coach JJ Redick said he liked the idea of ​​having Reddish’s defense in the starting lineup and Russell’s offense off the bench, but he made it clear that it may not be a permanent change and is not an indictment of D-Lo.
• Jalen Williams is the Thunder player he benefits from most Isaiah Hartenstein‘s eventual debut, claims Rylan Stiles of SI.com. Stiles suggests that having an effective screen setter and pick-and-roll partner like Hartenstein to play with should take Williams’ game to the next level when running the offense during Shai Gilgeous-Alexanderminutes on the couch. Hartenstein continues to recover after breaking his left hand during the preseason.