Tag: Jalen Williams

Player grades: Jalen Williams’ fourth quarter leads Thunder to 118-112 preseason win over Spurs

The Thunder finish preseason with a 5-1 record as they prepare to play games of consequence.

The Oklahoma City Thunder capped off their preseason with the most exciting installment of the six-game campaign.

In a back-and-forth contest that took all four quarters to put away, the Thunder were able to defeat the San Antonio Spurs, 118-112 and finish preseason with a 5-1 record.

This was a well-balanced attack from the offense as seven of the 12 players who touched the floor scored at least eight points. The Thunder shot 40-of-86 (46.5 percent) from the field.

For the Spurs, Josh Primo scored 23 points, Keldon Johnson scored 19 points and Devin Vessell scored 18 points.

Let’s take a look at player grades from this fun win as the team prepares to play games of consequence soon.

Thunder rookie Jalen Williams put up fourth straight double-digit game

Williams continued a strong preseason run with another double-digit-scoring effort in a win over the Pistons.

Oklahoma City Thunder rookie Jalen Williams continued a strong preseason run on Tuesday with another double-digit-scoring effort in a win over the Detroit Pistons.

Williams tied a team-high with 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals in the 115-99 victory. He went 7-of-10 from the field, including 1-of-2 from 3-point range, and finished a plus-20 on the court in 27 minutes of work.

The performance marked his fourth straight outing of the preseason with at least 10 points. He is averaging 12.8 points, six assists, 3.5 rebounds and two steals on 54.5% shooting from the field as the Thunder wrap up their exhibition run on Thursday with the San Antonio Spurs.

Williams is one of four first-year players the Thunder added to the roster this year, along with Chet Holmgren, Ousmane Dieng and Jaylin Williams. They have adjusted well to the NBA in the early going and have each shown moments in training camp.

Jalen Williams has performed well to this point of the preseason and looks poised to have a strong rookie campaign. With Holmgren sidelined for the season, others will have the opportunity to showcase themselves, and it appears as though they are doing just that.

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Player grades: Thunder young core have their collective best preseason game in 115-99 win over Pistons

Players from the last three draft classes looked promising in the Thunder’s preseason win over the Pistons.

The Oklahoma City Thunder’s 115-99 win over the Detroit Pistons felt about as close to a regular season as a preseason game could feel.

Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault leaned heavily on playing essentially just an eight-man rotation. In a showcase of young cores, the Thunder’s impressed more than the Pistons’.

The Thunder were able to continue to shoot lights out from outside as they went 13-of-32 (40%) from deep. The Thunder were led by a multitude of players as seven players finished with double-digit scoring.

Overall, this was a nice and balanced attack on offense. The best young players on the Thunder played like the best young players on the court this game.

Let’s take a look at player grades in this impressive win.

OKC Thunder player grades: Lu Dort returns from concussion protocol in preseason win over Maccabi Ra’anana

The Thunder played their final home preseason game.

The Oklahoma City Thunder were able to make easy work of the Israel National League’s Maccabi Ra’anana during Sunday’s preseason game, 144-97.

With the Thunder missing several of their best players, this was the perfect opportunity to give other players on the team some valuable game reps as a leading scorer or ball-handler.

This game also marked the return of Lu Dort, who was under concussion protocol for the last week. Dort only played one half as he finished with 23 points in 18 minutes.

For the opposition, Jason Siggers was the best player of the night as he scored a game-high 40 points. Former NBA players Norris Cole and Terrence Jones also played in this game.

Here are player grades for the Thunder’s 47-win over Maccabi Ra’anana

OKC Thunder news: Lu Dort clears concussion protocol, other injury updates

Lu Dort is expected to play in preseason.

Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault provided several injury updates on Saturday regarding the preseason status of many players.

The biggest update was Lu Dort clearing concussion protocol after being placed in it this past Monday. Dort suffered a concussion during training camp practice and missed the last two preseason games.

Dort is expected to play in Sunday’s preseason game against Israel’s Maccabi Ra’anana.

Daigneault also said Kenrich Williams will miss the preseason game. Kenrich Williams is dealing with a minor groin injury, and Jalen Williams missed practice as he fights strep throat.

The Thunder kick off their 2022-23 regular season in roughly two weeks, Oct. 19, against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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OKC Thunder player grades: Josh Giddey’s first quarter highlights 98-96 preseason loss to Mavs

Josh Giddey took 10 shots in his 17 first-half minutes.

The Oklahoma City Thunder fell to the Dallas Mavericks in their second preseason in Tulsa, OK, 98-96.

The Thunder and Mavericks both struggled to generate points on offense as the former shot 42.7 percent from the field and the latter shot 40 percent from the field.

A last-second mishap led to the Thunder not getting a chance to tie or win the game.

It was an evenly distributed scoring game for the Thunder as the leading scorer was Josh Giddey’s 13 points, who only played in the first half. All 14 Thunder players scored at least two points.

For the Mavericks, rookie Jaden Hardy led the way with 21 points off the bench. Backup big Christian Wood tallied up a 16-point and 13-rebound double double off the bench.

Let’s take a look at player grades for the Thunder in this preseason two-point loss.

OKC Thunder player grades: Second-year backcourt leads the way in 112-101 preseason win over Nuggets

A depleted Thunder starting lineup kept up with a healthy Nuggets starting lineup.

The Oklahoma City Thunder started off their preseason campaign with an impressive win over the Denver Nuggets that was highlighted by an even more impressive first quarter.

The Thunder were able to defeat the Nuggets, 112-101, but the results of preseason games don’t matter. What does matter is how good the depleted Thunder starting lineup looked against the fully healthy Nuggets starting lineup.

Backcourt duo Josh Giddey and Tre Mann led the way for the Thunder as they combined to score 31 points on 12-of-22 shooting.

Aaron Wiggins and Jalen Williams also impressed in their preseason debut off of the bench. Here are player grades for all four players.

Mark Daigneault: Thunder rookies have had good moments in camp

The Thunder rookies have each had nice moments to this point of training camp.

Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault will be tasked with leading the youngest team in the NBA this season, but the third-year head coach has been impressed by the team’s incoming group of rookies.

The Thunder, who have an average age of 23.7, welcome four first-year players to the team this season: Chet Holmgren (second pick), Ousmane Dieng (11th pick), Jalen Williams (12th pick) and Jaylin Williams (34th pick).

Of course, Holmgren will miss the season after undergoing foot surgery in August, but the team is still eager to see the other three rookies take the court. Each brings something different to the table and adds to the versatility on the roster.

Daigneault said each has proven he belongs.

They’ve done a good job. I think they’ve picked stuff up. They are all really eager and competitive. None of them look overwhelmed mentally, physically or anything like that. They’ve paced well with the practice. They look like part of the team. They have really good moments where they shine and pop a little bit.

The group showed signs in the Las Vegas Summer League of what they can bring to the court. Dieng checks a lot of boxes on both sides of the ball, while Jalen Williams was a tremendous scorer in college and Jaylin Williams proved a great rim protector and rebounder.

Going through a mini-training camp in preparation for summer league helped the group get acclimated to their new system. Daigneault estimated that 90% of the summer league system is being put to use now, which has helped the players.

Jaylin Williams agreed with that notion.

I think going through summer league definitely helped a lot because we learned a lot of the concepts and a lot of the plays. It is kind of like the same thing, we’re just adding a little bit more to it. I think going through that really helped us and put us a little bit ahead.

Said Jalen Williams:

We’re kind of running the same stuff, but I think the fact that almost everybody played in summer league kind of already gave me a lot more confidence to go out here but it has been fun.

With Holmgren sidelined for the season, the other rookies will have the opportunity to showcase themselves, and it appears as though they are doing just that in the early going.

The Thunder begin the preseason on Monday versus the Denver Nuggets.

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Kenrich Williams predicts Jalen Williams will be a future All-Star player

High praise from one Williams to another.

Following Friday’s training camp practice that featured a scrimmage, Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kenrich Williams voluntarily set high expectations for rookie Jalen Williams.

When asked about who stood out the most in the scrimmage, Williams immediately answered with the No. 12 pick in the 2022 NBA draft and said he expects to see the 21-year-old at an All-Star game in the future.

“J-Dub is gonna be an All-Star one day,” said Williams.

With Chet Holmgren out for the season, the remaining rookies will get a chance to claim the vacant 25-plus minutes and the touches/shots that would’ve gone to the No. 2 pick.

Williams is seen as the most NBA-ready rookie on the team, so a big rookie year that features his ability to produce both on and off the ball could be on the horizon.

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Takeaways from Wednesday’s media session with Mark Daigneault, Jalen Williams and Lu Dort

Mark Daigneault, Lu Dort and Jalen Williams spoke with the media following Wednesday’s training camp practice. Here are the biggest takeaways.

The Oklahoma City Thunder held their second day on Wednesday. Following practice, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault and players Jalen Williams and Lu Dort spoke with the media.

Daigneault offered his comments about Vit Krejci after the Thunder traded him to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Moe Harkless and a second-pick round along with amending another second-round pick.

Dort confirmed he’s worked with shooting coach Chip Engelland and Williams asked for food recommendations.

Here are some of the more noteworthy quotes and paraphrases from that media session.