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Jalen Williams unbothered by criticisms of his social media presence

Jalen Williams unbothered by criticisms of his social media presence.

Finding a social media post by someone on the Oklahoma City Thunder doesn’t take long when scrolling through X or TikTok. The youngest first seed in league history has leaned heavily on its youth.

The social media-savvy bunch is part of the new generation of players who grew up with modern technology and have had an online persona for most of their lives.

Jalen Williams is the most face-forward example on the Thunder. The 23-year-old is extremely active on X and has regularly posted and reposted TikTok videos.

Williams’ heavy online presence has ruffled the feathers of some fans and opposing fans, who possess an old-school mentality of players needing to stay offline during the playoffs.

The 23-year-old has been criticized for his social media usage, but he wasn’t concerned when asked about it in his exit interview. The critiques are shallow when discovered it’s more about optics and has zero correlation to how the second-year wing performs on the court.

“It doesn’t bother me at all. I got to play in the playoffs, be a key piece on the youngest team in history to be a one seed and win a playoff series,” Williams said. “And compete in the last one to go to six, obviously have a chance to play in the Western Conference finals.”

Williams continued that his playoff experiences will improve him as a player. The second-year wing has ascended into one of the best players in the league, becoming an efficient scorer who can do a little bit of everything.

“Experiences like that will make me better. Criticism, I could care less about. It doesn’t really bother me,” Williams said. “I go back to a very good life right after we’re done with this interview, so it doesn’t really bother me at all.”

Williams admitted he wasn’t on social media in the postseason as much as he was during the regular season. He also said while the unfair criticisms are there, being actively online also has its positives by building an interpersonal relationship with the fan base.

“I got off a little bit. I wasn’t on (X) as much. I was still there, but I still saw some stuff,” Williams said. “Like I said, it doesn’t really hold any value. It’s behind the keyboard.

“There’s also a lot of love on social media, too. I think in the heat of it you want to be consumed so much with people who are possibly preying on your downfall or hating, but at the same time, I got a lot of true authentic love and appreciation for what we’ve been doing all year. So you’ve kind of just got to take it with a grain of salt.”

It sounds like Williams will continue to actively stay online. It’s part of his character that’s helped him develop into the player he’s become. Changing that to appease a small group out of touch with modern reality isn’t worth the trouble.

“I try and just use it as motivation and go from there,” Williams said. “I think all year nothing really changed trying to navigate my way through social media and try and use it as a positive force.”

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Mark Daigneault hilariously reveals he uses a Twitter burner account

Mark Daigneault hilariously reveals he uses a Twitter burner account.

During Thursday’s playoff practice for the Oklahoma City Thunder, head coach Mark Daigneault peeled back the curtain on his life outside of the gym.

When discussing how it’s his job as the head coach to be emotionally neutral during high-intensity environments such as the playoffs, Daigneault said he needs to stay composed for the betterment of the squad.

“The games are emotional, playing the game is highly emotional,” Daigneault said. “For this team, my job is to be the coolest head in the room. The fans are emotional, (the media) is emotional. You guys are tweeting everything.

“And the game is emotional. It should be emotional for them. If they play with passion, it should be emotional. They should be pissed when something doesn’t go well. They should be happy when it goes well. I think it’s our job to make the next best decision and strip the emotion away.”

It was a well-said response with a bit of an eyebrow-raising moment when Daigneault explicitly mentioned X, formerly known as Twitter. The Thunder have always talked about blocking outside noise, so it was interesting to learn that doesn’t necessarily mean ignoring it.

Daigneault was asked about his Twitter usage. He said he scrolls through the app as a skeptical consumer but never actually tweets or has a photo of himself on his account. He refused to reveal the account’s name to keep it a secret.

“How else are you supposed to get information? I’m not like reading a newspaper every morning,” Daigneault joked.

Daigneault also said Thunder players constantly message tweets to him to examine. He said there is one specific player on the roster who does it more than most but wouldn’t reveal their identity.

“If you had two guesses, you’d probably get it right,” Daigneault joked.

This was an interesting little interaction with Daigneault. It reveals a small look at what the Coach of the Year winner does in his spare time and shows he also consumes social media content like the average person.

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