Jalen Williams' Evolving Offensive Profile Helping Year 3 Breakout

The Oklahoma City Thunder have seen Jalen Williams revamp his offensive profile which is helping the swingman have a year three offensive leap.

Nov 25, 2024; Sacramento, California, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams (8) drives to the basket against the Sacramento Kings during the third quarter at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images / Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

The Oklahoma City Thunder have seen Jalen Williams take a year-three leap. This season, the swingman is averaging 22 points, six rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block per game while shooting 52 percent from the floor, 39 percent from beyond the arc and 83 percent at the charity stripe.

Those numbers leap to 26 points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block on 56/40/100 shooting splits in the seven games since Chet Holmgren suffered a hip fracture. This progression from Williams has been impressive and a direct result of a more diverse scoring profile.

Sure, the addition of Isaiah Hartenstein has helped. Yes, Williams has refined his role as a lead guard this season thanks to his improved playmaking and picking his spots when to set up his teammates versus go score better than he previously has.

However, there has been strong internal growth from the rising star. Not only is he living true to the preseason hype chucking a career-high 5.2 triple attempts per game to the tune of 40 percent shooting from distance, but he has polished his driving ability.

This season, Williams is a more balanced down hill scorer. The Santa Clara product has 75 drives going to the right turning in 1.333 points per possessions ranking in the 76th percentile. He is also driving to the left 129 times with 1.109 points per possessions to show for it, placing him in the 72nd percentile.

That is a stark contrast to a season ago, when Williams came of age as a scorer but was far better going right (74th percentile) than left (58th percentile) according to synergy. Now, able to attack defenses in either direction, it is hard to bottle up the Thunder swing man.

The result? Williams is shooting 68 percent at the rim, a career-best 50 percent in the mid-range and the aforementioned 39 percent from 3. While that 3-point mark is not the best of his career in terms of raw numbers - shooting 43 percent a year ago - when you add in his increased volume it can be considered his best shooting stint.

This is just another feather in Williams' cap as he campaigns to make his first ever All-Star game - hoping to join Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at the mid-winter classic in San Fransisco.

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