Is Jalen Williams the Secret Weapon the Thunder Didn’t See Coming?

In basketball, as in life, no star shines alone—there’s always a Robin to that Batman. Remember the magic of Michael and Scottie, or the dynamic duos that carved their names in NBA lore? Well, the Oklahoma City Thunder have discovered their perfect sidekick in Jalen Williams. Sure, his playoff journey’s been a rollercoaster with unexpected dips, but against the Timberwolves, Williams didn’t just show up; he proved he’s the ideal second option to complement the electrifying Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Could this be the missing piece propelling the Thunder’s championship dreams beyond just hype? Let’s dig into how Williams rose from the shadows of doubt to stake his claim as an All-NBA force, defensive stalwart, and versatile matchup nightmare. This isn’t just about points on the board—it’s about a partnership rewriting Oklahoma City’s destiny. LEARN MORE.

It’s been a bumpy ride for Jalen Williams in the playoffs, but he proved against the Timberwolves he’s the perfect second banana for the Thunder.

No man is an island. This is true for life and especially for basketball.

Throughout history, almost every star who has propelled a team to a championship has been aided by a sidekick. Michael Jordan had Scottie Pippen. LeBron James had Dwayne Wade (and then Kyrie Irving, then Anthony Davis). Shaquille O’Neal had Kobe Bryant (or did Bryant have O’Neal?).

The list goes on and on.

Very rarely, do we see a Batman go the distance without a true Robin (see the 2010-11 Dallas Mavericks). For a while, it seemed like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was going to have to be one of those solo artists in order for the Oklahoma City Thunder to reach their ultimate goals. 

But his All-NBA teammate Jalen Williams has since risen to the occasion, proving that Gilgeous-Alexander is not a one man band.

Bumpy Series Against The Denver Nuggets

What very few people seem to discuss (likely because of how lopsided the series was) was just how good Williams was against the Grizzlies. In four games, Williams averaged 23.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.5 blocks on 59.2% true shooting en route to a four-game sweep. 

However, things got rocky in the first six games of the Western Conference semifinals. All of his other box score numbers remained similar (more on this in a bit), but his scoring numbers took a massive hit – averaging just 16.5 PPG on 45% TS.

This caused many people to question the legitimacy of Williams’ ability to be the second-best player on a true title contending team. Yes, he had successfully done it in the regular season, but this was going to mark the second straight postseason where Williams had fallen short in the second round. 

Return to Form

Instead of falling on his own sword, Williams took the dialogue surrounding his early career legacy into his own hands. Williams responded to all the criticism with a masterful Game 7 – tallying 24 points and seven assists on a +35 plus/minus in the biggest game of his life to that point.

Since then, Williams looks more in line with the player who earned his first All-Star/All-NBA nod in the regular season. In his last six games, Williams is averaging 22.5 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 4.8 APG, 1.8 SPG, and 0.2 BPG on 60.7% TS. 

The interesting thing about Williams is that he played great against the Grizzlies and Minnesota Timberwolves (two of the top 10 teams in defensive TRACR) and poorly against the Nuggets (17th in D-TRACR).

So this isn’t a case of Williams stat-padding against lesser defenses; rather, he was likely shaking off the last of his postseason jitters against Denver. And now that he has, Williams is ready to fight alongside Gilgeous-Alexander.

Williams’ overall postseason numbers currently sit at 20.4 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 5.3 APG, 1.6 SPG, and 0.6 BPG. Only 25 other players have played at least 10 games in a playoff run and done this and all of them made an All-NBA team at some point in their career.

Despite having a whole six-game blip in his numbers, Williams is still managing to put up a stat line that puts him in the same company as some of the greatest to ever play this game. 

More Than a Scorer

We mentioned earlier how even during his rough patch against the Nuggets, Williams was still accumulating rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. That’s because Williams comes from the Pippen School of Robins, meaning that he doesn’t need to score to provide value to his team. 

Along with making his first All-Star and All-NBA teams, Williams was also named to the All-Defensive Second Team. And this wasn’t one of those Bryant reputation-based selections, Williams earned every vote he received. 

Williams scored favorably in the defensive version of our catch-all one-number metric, defensive DRIP, at 1.0 (87th percentile) – the same mark as guys like Jonathan Isaac and Kristaps Porzingis (and just a hair below someone like Jaren Jackson Jr.).

What makes Williams such an impactful defender is his ability to create turnovers (86th percentile in steal rate), provide secondary rim protection (78th percentile block rate among non-centers), and matchup versatility. 

In the postseason, Williams continues to turn driving gaps into prisons where ball handlers are stripped of the basketball (2.3% steal rate in playoffs) and finishing shots in the paint with his 7-foot-2 wingspan lurking remains more difficult than training for a decathlon (1.6% block rate). But what has really aided the Thunder’s elite unit (1st in D-TRACR) is his ability to handle a variety of different matchups. 

So far, Williams has been tasked with guarding bigs like Jaren Jackson Jr. and Naz Reid, power forwards like Aaron Gordon and Julius Randle, wings like Anthony Edwards and Desmond Bane, and guards like Jamal Murray. Williams’ ability to guard nearly any player type in the NBA allows the Thunder to toy with a bunch of different lineups without paying much of a tax on the defensive side of the ball.

Even with his uneven scoring performances, the Thunder still have a +12.3 on-court rating per 100 possessions with Williams on the floor, which is nearly identical to Gilgeous-Alexander’s +12.8 per 100 this postseason. 

After defeating the Timberwolves in convincing fashion, the Thunder now sit just four wins away from their first NBA championship since they were the Seattle SuperSonics (who won it in 1979). 

Regardless of who advances between the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers, the Thunder will be heavy favorites. As of right now, our NBA prediction model gives the Thunder a 83.4% chance of winning it all. 

A lot of the credit sits on the slender shoulders of the 2024-25 MVP, but this run has made it clear that Gilgeous-Alexander has a star worthy of being his partner-in-crime.

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