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OKC Thunder Have Turned Jalen Williams's ESPN Height Sleight Into an Inside Joke

The Oklahoma City Thunder won’t let Jalen Williams think he’s tall.

Stephen Douglas

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams share a laugh about Williams’s height during a press conference.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams share a laugh about Williams’s height during a press conference. / @NB
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The Oklahoma City Thunder blew out the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night, 134-114. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 40 points in 29 minutes while Jalen Williams put up 19 points, six rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks in 30 minutes.

After the game, Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams took the podium together and the MVP candidate made the case for his teammate to be an All-Star. He also took the opportunity to try and embarrass him about his height.

"We can start with this point," said Gilgeous-Alexander. "Obviously he averages 20. Very efficient. Carries the load when I'm out the game. Makes plays for him and the guys around him and then defensively he.. at 6'4"..."

That's when Williams jumped in and the assembled media broke into laughter. Williams had to defend his height saying he was 6'6" and telling his teammate, "Don't kill my height."

Apparently this started earlier in the season when ESPN posted something about Gilgeous-Alexander being the tallest player in the team's starting lineup before a November game. OKC won that game with both SGA and Williams putting up impressive numbers and afterwards Williams posted on his Instagram stories, "I'm 6'6"."

Williams continued to defend his height later in the month while mic'd up for a game on ESPN.

Clearly this has been a regular topic of conversation inside the Thunder locker room, and it could be a fun new postgame wrinkle for the team to add to their postgame interviews.

Williams is officially listed at 6'5" on ESPN as well as the NBA's official website. Basketball Reference has him at 6'6".

Shai calling him 6'4" is officially listed as guys being dudes.

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Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

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