Jalen Williams trophy rewards Thunder collective

Chet Holmgren absent from the field, Jabari Smith Jr. author of a lackluster start to the season, Shaedon Sharpe on alternating current and Keegan Murray necessarily in the shadow of De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis in Sacramento, it is Jalen Williams who was rewarded with the first monthly title (even if this one counts for October and November) of Rookie Of The Month in the Western conference.

In the young but pleasant workforce of the Thunder, the 12th choice of the Draft very quickly established itself as an essential “role player” when coming off the bench, with his profile of a Swiss army knife. Thus, in 25 minutes per game (18 games), he did a bit of everything this season: 10.7 points (52.4% on shots), 3.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists.

Asserting itself then as the rookie the most consistent in the Western Conference in this young season, without being the biggest name or the most flashy of the 2022 vintage of rookies.

And for his coach Mark Daigneault, it is certainly worth highlighting. The Thunder technician judges that the reward granted to his 21-year-old winger attests to the Thunder collective, in the sense that his development has so far taken place naturally, always at the service of the collective, without any agenda of the point. individual view.

” I’m happy for him. I certainly congratulated him. But what I remember [de cette récompense], is that its development until now has never been centered around the quest for individual distinctions. He simply showed great rigor from the beginning, always playing in the system. » said the OKC coach, who now hopes that the former Santa Clara will continue in this direction. ” Now the challenge for him, I think, is to understand what led [à cette récompense]in order to try to duplicate this winning recipe without getting distracted [par la récompense]. »

Thus, while waiting for the great debut of Chet Holmgren next season, Thunder supporters can be satisfied this season with the very pleasant first exercise of Jalen Williams, far from being simply “the other” rookie of the Oklahoma City club.