Report: OKC Thunder Have 'Great Interest' In Former FSU Basketball Star

The former Seminole has had an underwhelming first four years in the NBA. Could a change of scenery be needed?

Oct 25, 2023; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) looks to pass the ball against Chicago Bulls forward Patrick Williams (44) during the first half of a basketball game at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports / Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

While the NBA Finals are about to start on Thursday, 28 other teams are going through their offseason and getting ready for the NBA Draft and Free Agency. Of the upcoming free agents, former Florida State forward and current Chicago Bull Patrick Williams is one of the more intriguing names as he's still young with a lot of potential. Injuries and a franchise seemingly going nowhere have done the 22-year-old no favors.

Williams and the Bulls couldn't agree on a contract extension last year, with the North Carolina native looking for north of $20 million per year while the Bulls' highest offer reportedly capped at $16 million per year. There's an incentive for the Bulls' front office to retain Williams as he was Chief Basketball Executive Artūras Karnišovas' first draft selection in Chicago when they surprised everyone by taking him 4th overall in the 2020 NBA Draft. Teams generally don't want to lose young talent for free, especially those who were drafted highly under the current regime.

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One team that is emerging as a suitor for Williams is the Oklahoma City Thunder, according to The Athletic's Darnell Mayberry, who said "If the Bulls have seen enough of the Williams experiment, one team that has great interest, a league source said, is Oklahoma City. The Thunder need more size, and they have an army of draft picks that can sweeten the pot for the Bulls if a sign-and-trade emerges in July."

OKC is coming off a great season, finishing as the Western Conference's No. 1 seed before losing to the Dallas Mavericks in six games in the Western Conference Semifinals. Mayberry isn't wrong in saying that the Thunder need more size, but they need options to play center, not as much on the perimeter. Williams, listed at 6'7" and 215 pounds, is more of a wing option than a big body. He can defend bigger wings well and has made 3s at a 41% clip for his career, but he's played in just 213 of possible 318 games due to various season-ending injuries. Despite the options they currently have on the perimeter, no team can really ever have enough options to defend on the perimeter in this age of the NBA.

If the Thunder were to sign the Bulls forwards, their roster would have just about every Williams in the league, as they already employ Jalen Williams, Jaylin Williams, and Kenrich Williams. They could also use their stacked draft capital to trade up and acquire Jalen's brother Cody if they wanted to.

Patrick Williams played just one season in Tallahassee, averaging 9.2 PPG and 4.0 RPG for the dynamic 2019-20 Florida State Seminoles, a team that will likely go down as the best in program history. The former five-star used the elongated pre-draft process due to COVID-19 to build his draft stock from a mid-to-late first-round pick into the Top 5. He's consistently averaged about 10 points and 4 rebounds for his entire NBA career so far.

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