What is Jalen Williams’ ceiling? | Devine Intervention
Yahoo Sports NBA writer Dan Devine is joined by Locked on Heat's Wes Goldberg to discuss their mutual admiration for the Oklahoma City Thunder second-year forward - and what Williams could become in the NBA. Hear the full conversation on “Devine Intervention” - part of the “Ball Don’t Lie” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
DAN DEVINE: Watching Jalen Williams play, man, that dude is so much fun to watch. He's been one of my favorite players to watch during the regular season here. Just, like, impossibly smooth off the bounce. And he could get-- he does a lot of the same kind of stuff that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander does but, like, obviously not at the volume and the efficiency of it.
But it keeps guys on their-- off balance. He can get all the way to the rim. He can stop on a dime and pull up. He guards everybody. Like, he's-- his most frequent matchup when you look at the matchup data on nba.com is Victor Wembanyama. And he's like a legit full foot shorter than him. But he's their power forward, so he has to guard those dudes.
He's averaging better than 19 points, four rebounds, and four assists per game this season, and he's shooting better than 50% from the floor. Here's a number that I like. The only guys-- before this season, the only guys to do that by age 22, which is how old he is, friggin' Kareem, Michael Jordan, Giannis, David Thompson, and point guard Kevin Johnson. That is a weird list of guys.
WES GOLDBERG: It is.
DAN DEVINE: But that is a cool list of guys. Kevin Johnson aside, it is a cool list of guys. And that's what Jalen Williams has been-- that's the company he's keeping right now. He's shooting like 70% in the clutch. He leads OKC in fourth quarter scoring. Like, if you get a guy who can be like the second or third best player on a title contender, which, you know, remains to be seen if they are, but they're trending in that direction. You get that guy with, like, the 12th pick in the draft, that is, like, a moonshot home run.
And I think there might be a possibility that he's even-- his ceiling is higher than that. You know, remains to be seen. But, like, it might even be a hell of a lot higher than that. And that is a source of joy for me.
WES GOLDBERG: I'm so glad you brought him up. I'm so happy to talk about Jalen Williams any time anybody wants to, like firefighters or colleague podcasters. But my favorite-- I love watching the Thunder because they're terrifying, and I mean that in a good way. Like, if you're the other team, you're just like, what do you do with this? It's like, everybody can handle, shoot, blah, blah, blah.
But my favorite part of every Thunder game might be those first few minutes of the fourth quarter, where Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn't in and Jalen Williams is just running the offense. It's a big reason why he is their lead scorer in the fourth quarter, the stat that you cited there.
I love it because he's just like, OK, this is-- this is my turn. And I'm with you. I don't-- I don't-- I'm not putting a ceiling on this guy. When you see him operating the offense, I'm like, what? I don't know what this-- how good this guy can be. And we're so blinded by, like, Shai because he's an MVP candidate and Chet because of all that stuff with the Rookie of the Year, Chet versus Wemby.
But, like, Jalen Williams is right here showing everybody-- he's like, hey, I'm right-- I'm part of this conversation. I'm just as big of a reason as anybody else not named Shai that we are where we're at-- we are at as the Oklahoma City Thunder. He's so much fun to watch. I'm glad you brought him up.
DAN DEVINE: 34 points and 8 assists per 100 possessions for Jalen Williams in those minutes. Shooting-- and the true shooting is up over 600. Like 6-- I think it's, like, 610. That's like-- I don't want to speak into existence the last time the overqualified third option on Oklahoma City wound up getting his own team, but I watch him, and I wonder, like, what would that look like?