April 3, 2026, 3:04 p.m. CT
Going up for a wild layup attempt, Jalen Williams grabbed his miss. Fighting through a packed paint, the 24-year-old muscled his way for a layup as Jake LaRavia was forced to foul him. The and-one bucket had him and the OKC crowd celebrating as it doubled the score.
The Oklahoma City Thunder absolutely destroyed the Los Angeles Lakers in a 139-96 win where they led the entire way and by as many as 46 — yep, 46 — points. Even though both teams have been red-hot since the NBA All-Star break, the former showed the latter that there are levels to this.
Williams finished with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting, nine rebounds and eight assists. He shot 0-of-1 from 3 and went 2-of-2 on free throws. He also had two steals.
Nearing a triple-double, Williams joined Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in getting up for this primetime matchup. He was the Scottie Pippen to his Michael Jordan. It was a loud 10-point performance as he bullied his way to the rim and showed off his pull-up jumper. All of his buckets came in the first half as he had a short stint.
On defense, Williams was a one-man wrecking crew. He picked off the ball a couple of times as the Thunder completely dominated the possession battle. It was the first time in a while we saw OKC’s defense at the peak of its powers by creating a turnover every other possession to overwhelm a confident Los Angeles.
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Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault was impressed with Williams’ ability. Along with the rest of the group, they completely turned up the notch of their defensive intensity. They morphed into a turnover-creating machine as that helped them put up 44 points in the first quarter alone.
“I think his talent and the way that he’s ascended as a player has overshadowed what one of his most impactful skills — which is the fact that he just brings the juice every single night competitively,” Daigneault said about Williams. “He’s got an incredible motor. I think back to the playoffs last year, he’s playing 23 playoff games with a torn ligament. He’s not 100%, but the intensity, the competitiveness, the motor was 100% it just shows how impactful he is for our team.”
Along with the rest of the Thunder starters, Williams clocked out early. He didn’t play in the fourth quarter. Deservingly so, too. In the middle of a one-game in five-day stretch, you saw what happened when OKC took its opponent super seriously.
With each passing game, Williams looks more like his All-NBA self. He fearlessly attacks the rim. Even if it means absorbing a ton of contact. He’s also returned to being OKC’s most versatile defender. Taking up all five positions. This game was a textbook example of just how differently the Thunder play on both sides of the floor when he’s feeling himself.
“I feel like I haven’t played all year. I got pretty fresh legs right now, which will serve me well. I feel like we only have a certain amount of games left, so I’ll probably go in these playoffs pretty fresh — God willing,” Williams said. “I’ve always kinda tried to play that way, with a high motor. I feel like that’s when I’m my best. When I first got drafted, Sam Presti talked about it like being one of the big things that can be a separator for me. I always have that in the back of my head while I’m playing.”
Just business as usual for the Thunder. This was the rare time they played on national television and had zero disingenuous clips go viral on social media. Instead, Luka Doncic and the Lakers got the brunt of that. Despite the online brownie points, Williams proclaims they don’t care what the outside noise says about OKC — whether positive or negative.
“Our biggest thing as a team is we actually do not care if you’re bored watching us, to be completely honest with you. That goes for me on down. We’re trying to win basketball games at the end of the day, just like everybody else. That’s our superpower,” Williams said. “You’re not getting bored with the process. We don’t take wins like this for granted. If you don’t come and bring it, you can lose to anybody in the NBA. So that’s how we take these games. We don’t care who’s bored watching.”