OKC Thunder: Jalen Williams Highlights Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Impact

The Rookie of the Year runner-up spoke highly of the Thunder’s superstar in a recent podcast.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are one of the youngest teams in the NBA, and according to Jalen Williams, they may also be the closest.

In a recent podcast with Jared Brownridge, Williams talked about some of the relationships that make the team special. Most notably, Williams talked about the influence Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has had on him early in his career.

Gilgeous-Alexander is entering his sixth season in the NBA and his fifth in Oklahoma City. Throughout his career, Gilgeous-Alexander has played many different roles and in various situations.

Those experiences have allowed Gilgeous-Alexander to become the valuable leader he is for the Thunder now. While those different experiences help him tailor his advice toward anyone, someone with a similar game, like Williams, is a perfect match for that.

“We kind of have, like, similar games in some respects, so trying to figure out, you know, why he does certain things is what I’ve kind of been like, you know, pushing towards,” Williams said. Those similarities are part of why Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander play so well together. Both players like to play at their own speeds and can catch defense off guard with their unorthodox play styles.

And while both are capable three-point shooters, both are most known for their attacks inside the arc. That shows up for Gilgeous-Alexander as operating in the mid-range and drawing fouls, while Williams likes to play above the rim.

As the two play together more, some of those abilities from Gilgeous-Alexander could translate to Williams’ game as well. But the similarities go far beyond how they play on the court.

“You wanna learn as much about the game as you can from a lot of people and to have him as somebody who’s, like, almost my age,” Williams said. “He’s 24, I’m 22, so we’re in that range where we really understand each other and kinda have that.”

While Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander get along well because of their proximity in age, they are far from the only ones. With so many players in the first few years of their careers and around the same age, the Thunder have a unique ability to be on the same page consistently.

That camaraderie is beneficial for winning games as such a young group. It is at least partially responsible for such an intense rebuild, yielding only two seasons without a postseason appearance.

As the Thunder hope to become a contender soon, that closeness as a team will play a significant factor. And with Gilgeous-Alexander at the helm, the Thunder have a clear leader they can trust.

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