Thunder players show off Larry O’Brien trophy in convertibles

Fittingly, the parade occurred over a week after Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt declared July 16 as Jaylin Williams Day and on the day of, July 24, Holt declared it to be Isaiah Joe Day in Oklahoma City. Now, July 24 is also celebrated as Jaylin Williams and Isaiah Joe Day in Fort Smith, which was made official during Thursday’s “Thunder in the Fort” parade.

Jalen Williams claps back at false claims over Thunder parade

Before signing their core three players to max deals, the Thunder inked Jaylin Williams to a three-year extension after celebrating with Oklahoma City amid a championship parade. Thunder All-Star Jalen Williams set the record straight. After claims that the parade was a bust, Williams said that couldn’t have been further from the truth, he said, during a recent appearance on The Young Man & The Three podcast.

“The parade, I don’t know why everybody was doing the thing where I don’t know why it was a trend to like say that there wasn’t a ton of people out there, but it was actually overwhelming how many people were there,” Williams said. “But I mean, I enjoyed it, Oklahoma enjoyed it.”

While there were some gaps in the crowd throughout the parade route, most of the excited Thunder fans waited toward the end of the route to greet the team. Then, most gathered by the thousands for a celebration rally at Scissortail Park.

“So it was rushed in a way, and we still have 700,000 people over there,” Williams added. “The grass that we’re on, you can’t even see the grass. We didn’t even stay on the float; we ran the whole parade.”

Williams hopes the Thunder will get a chance for a do-over in 2026.