Jaylin Williams Continues To Come Into His Specific Role

Although the end result might not have been what the Thunder wanted for this season, there are plenty of things to look back on and be happy about. This could be schemes that the Thunder cooked up against opponents that proved successful, or just individual talents that played way above their pay grade. 

One example of this is Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jaylin Williams. Oklahoma City found the perfect fit for Williams this year as he took over the role of big man in the Thunder’s small-ball lineup. With OKC’s roster being stacked with elite guard talent, such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Ajay Mithcell, Jared McCain, Cason Wallace and more, the Thunder choose to allow them to all play together at times. 

The Thunder has chosen to play the 6-foot-9 Williams with this group down low, to help stretch the floor, while still having a defensive presence on the court. With a wingspan of over seven feet, Williams is able to give opposing bigs trouble down low, and can be a matchup nightmare as he can play from the perimeter on offense. 

OKC got good use out of this, with Williams averaging 19.6 minutes per game in the regular season and putting up solid numbers in this time. He would average the most points per game of his career with 7.2, and also averaged 5.5 rebounds per game along with 2.4 assists per game. 

This advanced performance by Williams in the regular season would luckily continue to the playoffs, as he would average around five points and four rebounds per game in 16 minutes of action per night. Williams’ defense would be a factor in the postseason as well, going toe-to-toe with every big man he came across, including Spurs star Victor Wemanyama. 

Williams' playstyle was tough for San Antonio to adjust to as he would go from battling in the paint on defense to sinking threes on the other side, like in Game 3 of the conference finals, where Williams would hit five threes on six shots. 

Overall, as a team, OKC didn’t perform well enough to make it to the NBA Finals once again. However, Williams' piece in the puzzle is not one that is to be replaced, as the Thunder forward did everything he was asked of. 

Now, with next season approaching, the Thunder are hoping that Williams’ seasons continue to get better and better as they have done the past couple of years.