The Oklahoma City Thunder’s 16th season starts Monday in a preseason game against the San Antonio Spurs. Following Media Day and the first day of training camp, there are questions surrounding the team.
This sounds similar to the last several Thunder seasons; so many questions. However, this season, the tone has taken an optimistic turn. For the first time in a very long time, even dating back to the Russell Westbrook, Paul George era, the Thunder are one of the more well-built teams in the league, and the questions surrounding them are coming from a better place; a luxurious place of privilege.
One major question that could make the difference in OKC breaking even at .500 this season or winning close to 50 games is, could they have two All-Stars?
We know about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s breakout season, where he averaged 31.4 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.8 rebounds per game while leading the Thunder to a 40-42 record and one game from the playoffs.
What flew under the radar throughout the majority of that season was Jalen Williams and his steady progression throughout his rookie year. In November, Williams averaged 10.9 points per game. That would be his lowest-scoring average for the remainder of the season. In December, that total rose to 12.3, then 13.6 after the new year and 14.9 in February. We got a glimpse of what many of us are now expecting, entering Williams’ sophomore NBA season after he averaged 19.8 points per game in the last full month of the season.
“I think we have to let him follow his own trajectory and not overreact to any type of progression,” said Thunder general manager Sam Presti. “He’s going to be just fine. He’s going to be a really good player. He plays both sides of the ball. The part I like about him most is the guy brings the juice. He competes. That’s the platform for him to really amplify his talent moving forward, and he seems to have that naturally.”
Sam Presti at his
The moral of the story is in the six months of professional basketball we’ve seen J Dub play, he’s incrementally improved, and we’ve not seen any glaring blemishes in his game. He’s an excellent scorer already. He handles the ball well. Defensively, he’s often in the right spots and rarely gets beat. His vision is better than most first and second-year point guards (although he’s not a point guard).
There are a thousand things to rave about when talking about Williams, and I think a question that’ll be on the table three or four months from now is whether or not he is an All-Star. Although things get political when selecting All-Star teams and that may affect Williams solidifying a selection this year, call it a hot take, but expect Dub to rise to an All-Star level this season, making OKC even more of a threat to opposing teams.
