<\/p>\n
Thunder forward Jaylin Williams said he\u2019s grateful for the chance to bring a championship trophy back to his hometown, sign a new contract and enter training camp with the same hunger that fueled Oklahoma City\u2019s title run.<\/p>\n
Bringing the Trophy Home Was \u201cIncredible\u201d<\/p>\n
Williams said the highlight of his offseason was sharing the championship trophy with his community and teammate Isaiah Hartenstein.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing in my hometown and like walking down the same streets I\u2019ve been on my whole life and just being able to see people I\u2019ve known my whole life, that they\u2019ve seen me in the Boys and Girls Club or they\u2019ve seen me at Kimmins Junior High, wherever it is, they see me everywhere just sharing that experience with them and sharing that experience with Zay,\u201d Williams said. \u201cJust knowing how much it meant to the city was incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watch OKC Thunder Media Days below:<\/p>\n
Watching JDub Play Hurt<\/p>\n
Williams reflected on seeing Jalen \u201cJDub\u201d Williams compete through injury in the postseason.<\/p>\n
Williams reflected on seeing Jalen \u201cJDub\u201d Williams compete through injury in the postseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, that was a warrior. First off, he\u2019s a competitor and he wants to compete at the highest level and he will compete regardless of what\u2019s going on,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI think every game that he got a shot at the time that I was in, I can say that I can.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I was in the training room getting taped while he would go get a shot. So I would walk past him. He would like smack my leg or something. He would get his shot. He would come back out with a bandaid or whatever. He got a shot in. We would just talk about it. And I was in there when he got his first one. I was in there when he got his last one.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd just seeing what he was willing to do just for the team and just to be able to win and compete at the highest level, how can you not go to war with a guy like that? And you want guys like that on your side.\u201d<\/p>\n
A New Contract Was a Family Moment<\/p>\n
Williams described his new deal as a life-changing step for himself and his family.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u201cYeah, it meant a lot,\u201d he said. \u201cThe first thing I did after I realized I was going to sign the contract was got in a group FaceTime with my dad and my three brothers. And I think we all cried. We all just were on FaceTime looking at each other crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it meant a lot just being able to provide for my family and provide for people around me. And like I got a new house and it\u2019s big enough now to where my family is going to come celebrate Christmas with me and Thanksgiving with me.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019m super thankful that Sam, Mark and the whole Thunder organization believes in me and they\u2019re putting me in a position be with my family and do those type of things in my family. There\u2019s nothing in the world that tops me in order to do stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grateful for His Role on the Team<\/p>\n
Williams said he sees every opportunity in the NBA as a blessing, whether he plays big minutes or not.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything, the way I\u2019ve looked at the NBA and my journey in the NBA and my journey in college is that everything\u2019s a blessing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really, I really started thinking about that more and more last season when I dealt with those two hamstring injuries. Every time I step on the court, every time I tie my shoes, every time I do a layup, anytime I do anything, I\u2019m blessed to be there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m sitting on the bench watching those guys go out there and kill whoever they\u2019re playing against, I\u2019m blessed to be there. And I trust Mark. I trust every coach. I trust every player on our team to put us in the best position. And if there\u2019s nights where it\u2019s not me out there on the court, it\u2019s going to be that. So I love our team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want Hart, want Chet to have a great, successful career. I want them to succeed at the highest level. And regardless of if I play zero minutes or if I play 30 minutes, I\u2019m blessed to whatever I am and I\u2019m blessed to even be in this arena in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Viral Parade Speech Still Resonates<\/p>\n
Williams laughed about his memorable unscripted speech during the team\u2019s downtown celebration.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody keeps coming up to me saying that that was a dope speech and I\u2019m sorry for all the kids that were there,\u201d he said. \u201cBut, I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll ever be able to do something like that again. If you watch the video when Hart was trying to push me up there to talk, I was saying I didn\u2019t want to talk because I didn\u2019t know what I was going to say.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd, it was incredible. Everybody loved it and I\u2019m happy that I was a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cZero Zero\u201d Mindset for New Season<\/p>\n
Williams said the Thunder are not coasting into the season despite being reigning champions.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t think so,\u201d he said. \u201cI think nothing changes. I think that we go into the practice tomorrow the same way we went into our when I was a rookie. And I think that\u2019s what our team does really good.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd our team, our whole organization is getting back to a zero zero mindset. And I think when we lace up our shoes and put on our jerseys, the other team is doing it the same way. And when the ball goes up in there, they don\u2019t care that we won last season. So why should we? So I think we go into training camp with the same mindset we have every single year.<\/p>\n
—-<\/p>\n
Forward Jaylin \u201cJ-Will\u201d Williams enters his fourth NBA season, all with Oklahoma City, after being drafted out of Arkansas in the second round in 2022.<\/p>\n
Williams averaged 5.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists last season. While he played limited minutes during the playoffs (8.3 per game), he is considered a vital glue piece for the team thanks to his size, energy and chemistry with teammates.<\/p>\n
Known for his playful personality, Williams produced several viral postgame interview moments with team broadcaster Nick Gallo. He also made headlines during the team\u2019s championship parade when he swore on stage, drawing a reaction from Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt.<\/p>\n
Williams signed a three-year, $24 million extension after the Finals and remains under contract through 2028.<\/p>\n
Drake Johnson <\/p>\n
Drake Johnson is a Digital Content Producer at Griffin Media. He joined the team in July 2021 after graduating from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thunder forward Jaylin Williams said he\u2019s grateful for the chance to bring a championship trophy back to his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3783],"tags":[7,4500,50268,50267,2679,6,50155,5241,310,475,179,3966,3965,312],"class_list":{"0":"post-312008","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-contract-and-team-mindset-at-okc-thunder-media-day","11":"tag-jaylin-williams-reflects-on-championship-summer","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-news-9-kwtv-oklahoma-city","15":"tag-newsbreak","16":"tag-oklahoma","17":"tag-oklahoma-city","18":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","19":"tag-oklahomacity","20":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","21":"tag-thunder"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115291733701731594","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}