‘He may be an All-Star this year’: JJ Redick praises Jalen Williams on podcast

“OKC to me is one of the most exciting teams in the NBA this upcoming season.”

The Oklahoma City Thunder enter the 2023-24 season in a honeymoon stage with national pundits.

After finishing a win shy of a playoff berth last season, the Thunder are expected to take the next leap in their development cycle by graduating to a perennial playoff contender.

It sounds as though former NBA player and current media personality JJ Redick is a believer, too. On the latest episode of his “The Old Man & The Three” podcast, Redick spoke highly of both the Thunder and Jalen Williams.

 

After finishing last season second in Rookie of the Year voting, Williams has garnered attention across the league as one of the more promising young wings.

“OKC to me is one of the most exciting teams in the NBA this upcoming season. They’re one of the best stories I think in the NBA for this upcoming season. Jalen Williams is going to be a star. He may be a star this year. He may be an All-Star this year. That’s not out of the realm of possibility in my mind. Maybe that’s jumping a year or two (too early), but I just think he’s that good. He’s a two-way force. … I think we’re going to be forced to pay attention to them.”

While Williams has been penciled in as a future All-Star, if he manages to do that in his second season, then the Thunder struck gold at the No. 12 slot of the 2022 NBA draft.

Adding a multi-time All-Star wing at that spot in the draft is the type of move that sets a franchise up for success for several years. It might be a bit too early to declare victory, but it appears very strongly that this is the case with the 22-year-old.

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