Inside The Thunder

OKC Thunder Rookie Jalen Williams Beginning to Blossom

Two-thirds of the way into his rookie season, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault thinks Jalen Williams is hitting his stride.

Dustin McLaughlin

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Now, two-thirds of the way through his first season in the NBA, Oklahoma City Thunder’s 12th-overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, Jalen Williams, doesn’t seem to be hitting the so-called “rookie wall,” but is instead starting to hit his stride.

At least that’s what head coach Mark Daigneault thinks.

After Oklahoma City’s 100-103 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night, Daigneault shared his thoughts on the Santa Clara product’s recent play, saying, “He’s hit an enormous stride, not a wall. He’s been impressive. And he keeps getting better.”

When asked what he attributes to avoiding the rookie wall, Williams promptly responded, “just taking care of my body,” and went on to credit the coaching staff, saying “they put me in a lot of positions early in the year that I’m kind of seeing again now, so I’m just a lot more comfortable with it.”

That checks out.

Over his last 10 games, Williams is putting up 15.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.4 steals, and 0.8 blocks per 36 minutes while turning it over just 1.7 times. In those same games, he’s shooting 49.5% from the floor, 44.4% on 3-pointers, and 76.9% from the line.

Several of those numbers are a drastic improvement over Williams’ first 25 games where he averaged 15.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.5 blocks per 36 minutes, and turned it over 2.2 times. His shooting splits included 53.6% from the floor, just 28.6% on 3-point attempts, and 73.9% on free throws.

The eye test also shows that Williams has been cleaning up his game and contributing more on both ends of the floor as the season has progressed.

At the beginning of the year, it wasn’t uncommon to see the 21-year-old being penalized for travels or getting overzealous on defense and picking up unnecessary fouls. Now, Williams seems to be comfortable using his 7-foot-3 wingspan to set defensive tones, harass ball-handlers, and gobble up errant passes. He also rarely gets called for travels these days, too.

The big-bodied wing has also been noticeably more assertive on the offensive end, constantly seeking advantageous opportunities to get downhill where he can finish around or over the top of defenders with monstrous, roar-inducing dunks, or utilizing his craftiness to weasel the ball to a cutting teammate for an easy layup.

But perhaps the defining moment - the highlight - of his recent stretch of basketball was his performance against the Los Angeles Lakers a week ago.

In the Thunder’s second nationally televised game in three years, Williams produced arguably the best game of his young career against the Lakers. While most tuned in to see LeBron James break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 47-year-old scoring record, Williams tuned into basketball, pouring in 24 points, grabbing seven rebounds, and producing six steals to help the Thunder win in convincing fashion.

In the two games since, Williams has continued to rise to the occasion, providing the necessary two-way wing play to help upend Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers before pouring in 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting on Monday night in a close loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

Only time will tell if Williams will hit some kind of developmental wall, but for now, the gifted prospect is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon; in fact, it looks like he's just getting started.

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Dustin McLaughlin
DUSTIN MCLAUGHLIN

Dustin has followed the Oklahoma City Thunder since their inception in 2008, and the NBA since the early 2000s. He's been scouting NBA prospects for 4 years and running.

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