"That cycle is going to continue so they can get people to watch" - Jalen Williams takes a swipe at NBA media

“That cycle is going to continue so they can get people to watch” – Jalen Williams takes a swipe at NBA media originally appeared on Basketball Network.

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams had a breakout 2024-25 season where he earned both All-Star and All-NBA selections. The 24-year-old was also the second-best player on the Thunder team that won it all last season.

But for all the success that J-Dub has had in the last year, he was not spared from the fire-spitting mouth of NBA talking heads. During his recent appearance on “The Young Man and the Three” podcast, he took a swipe at the media.

“The media thing for me is like, they’re gonna love you one day, they’re gonna hate you the next day. And that cycle is going to continue so they can get people to watch,” said J-Dub.

“And people don’t actually watch, they just listen to what people are saying,” Williams stated.

Did J-Dub take a shot at Stephen A. Smith?

Without mentioning names, Williams was likely referring to ESPN’s top mouthpiece, Stephen A. Smith, who was caught by cameras playing solitaire on his mobile phone while watching Game 4 of the 2025 NBA Finals featuring Jalen’s Thunder versus the Indiana Pacers.

Smith also made special mention of J-Dub back during the Denver Nuggets series, specifically during the series opener when SAS called him a no-show following a 5-20 effort and the Thunder getting upset by the 2023 NBA champs.

But when Williams exploded for a playoff career high 40 points in Game 5 of the Finals, Stephen A. defended J-Dub from his fellow talking heads who compared him to Scottie Pippen by saying he is more than a sidekick to SGA.

“That helped me a lot because then, I have a bad game, it’s like I’m actually the only one experiencing what’s going on,” he added.

“So, that was a big one for me. And then two was just like, just keep the main thing the main thing. There’s gonna be ups and downs during the series. But like, whatever work you put in during the summer is going to show up when you need it and I was pretty confident in a lot of the stuff that I had done leading up to it,” Williams stated.

He bounced back from a poor Game 6

That helped him greatly in Game 7 because after he had that 40-point explosion in Game 5, Williams played horribly and struggled for 16 points in Game 6 as the Pacers forced a winner-take-all game in Oklahoma City. But he muted the media and their criticisms to bounce back with a solid Game 7 where he scored 20 points and had the best +/- on the team of +13, which helped the Thunder clinch the 2025 NBA championship.

After the season, J-Dub was rewarded by the Thunder with a massive five-year maximum contract that could be worth up to $285 million. Although that deal does not kick in until next year, Williams recently admitted playing in the NBA has helped him retire both of his Air Force servicemen parents.

With one of the biggest contracts in NBA history, there’s no doubt that the NBA media will be on Williams’ back next season, especially if he has a bad game or a bad stretch.

But after hearing what he had to say about them, it looks like outside criticisms won’t be able to shake his confidence.

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 20, 2025, where it first appeared.

“That cycle is going to continue so they can get people to watch” – Jalen Williams takes a swipe at NBA media

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