2022-23 Thunder player grades: Jalen Williams

When Chet Holmgren went down with a season-ending injury, one of the few bright spots of the situation was that it would give others on the roster unexpected opportunities.

Without Holmgren, who would’ve likely been a top-three player on the roster in terms of usage rate and shot attempts, a vacuum needed to be filled. It’s fair to say Williams was one of the beneficiaries of the unfortunate injury.

After starting the season off the bench, Williams slowly played his way into the starting lineup and finished his rookie campaign as arguably the second-best player on the overachieving Thunder.

By the end of the season, Williams made a strong push for Rookie of the Year and finished No. 2 in voting. His superb-efficient scoring game headlined his season.

The 6-foot-6 wing feasted inside of the paint, where 37.7% of his shots occurred 0-3 feet from the basket. His 70.1% shooting at the rim put him in the 80th percentile among wings, per Cleaning The Glass.

The 3-point shot also gradually improved throughout the season — after shooting 32.4% from 3 on 2.7 attempts before the All-Star break, those numbers jumped to 42.9% from 3 on 2.9 attempts post-All-Star break.

The only real criticism of Williams’ game is his passive nature. Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault mentioned this several times throughout the season that they are willing to exchange efficiency for volume with Williams and that rarely was the case during his rookie season.

There could be multiple reasons as to why this was a difficult adjustment to make for Williams — perhaps he didn’t want to step on anybody’s toes as a rookie; maybe that’s just how he was taught to play; maybe it’s his natural instinct. Regardless of the reason though, a more selfish Williams is better for the Thunder. And to his credit, he showed he could do this during the play-in tournament, where he averaged 12 shots a game.

For the future, it’s now about harnessing that mindset over an entire season. Which I think will happen as Williams matures from a rookie to a seasoned vet.

But back to this season.

Considering the type of rookie season he had, it’s hard for fans not to be excited about Williams’ future. There’s a very high chance that the Thunder drafted a high-end starter — at the absolute worst — with the 12th pick and if that’s the case, they nailed the draft selection.