OKC Thunder: Jalen Williams Remains No. 3 on NBA Rookie Ladder

With just days until All-Star weekend, rookie Jalen Williams has remained steady at No. 3 on the official NBA rookie ladder.

With just days until All-Star weekend, Oklahoma City Thunder rookie Jalen Williams has remained steady at No. 3 on the official NBA rookie ladder.

With Orlando’s Paolo Banchero and Indiana’s Bennedict Mathurin continuing to hold the top two spots, the No. 3 spot has been up for grabs this season. And it’s seen a variety of players: Detroit’s Jaden Ivey, Sacramento’s Keegan Murray and even Jazz center Walker Kessler.

Williams has now held the spot for three consecutive weeks. And his stats suggest rightfully so.

Over the last week, Williams has averaged 17.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. He shot 52 percent overall, 50 percent from beyond the arc and hit every free throw.

During All-Star break, Williams will be going teammate Josh Giddey in playing for Team Joakim in the Rising Stars game. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will be repressing Oklahoma City as a Western Conference All-Star reserve.

Here was senior NBA writer Steve Aschburner’s assessment of Williams’ week: “‘J-Dub’ — which apparently is enough nickname to distinguish him from teammate Jaylin Williams’ “J-Will” — was the highest-scoring rookie of the week. He shot 52/50/100 in the Thunder’s two games with 12.5 field goal attempts and 2.5 steals per. And just when you’d think it’s time for him and other rookies to go splat, OKC coach Mark Daigneault said of this Santa Clara steal: ‘He’s hit an enormous stride, not a wall. He’s been impressive. And he keeps getting better.’”

Williams and OKC are back in action on at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night against the Rockets in their final game before break.

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