The 2022-23 Oklahoma City Thunder’s season ended with the play-in tournament loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, which means it’s time for reflection.
Being one of the biggest overachievers in the league, the Thunder finished with a 40-42 record after being predicted by many to have high lottery odds.
Now that the season is in the books, let’s go back and evaluate all 19 players who suited up for the Thunder this season. Grades will be handed out to every player in terms of what their expectations were heading into the season and how they lived up to them.
The fifth player in this installment is Jaylin Williams, who went from a third-string to starting center for the Thunder in 2023.
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(Editor’s note: We are starting individual grades for all players from the 2022-23 Oklahoma City Thunder. To access other reviews as part of this ongoing series, click here.)
2022-23 statistics:
Advanced stats:
Significant Percentile Finishes:
Contract:
Thoughts:
Williams’ season can be split perfectly into two halves — before 2023 and after it.
In the first three months of his season, Williams rarely saw any action, totaling just nine appearances from October to January. The second-round pick instead saw most of his playing time with the G League’s OKC Blue, where he was given ample opportunities to be a big-man facilitator.
Then, once the calendar flipped to 2023, Williams’ role changed from a third-string big to the starting center. Following Alexey Pokusevski’s fractured leg, the Thunder rotated through several options at the five before Williams eventually grasped the starting spot to make it his.
To Williams’ credit, he fully stopped the chance as he finished his rookie season strongly — in 40 games (34 starts) in 2023, he averaged 6.7 points and 4.3 rebounds while shooting 42.9% on 2.6 3s.
It would also be neglectful not to mention Williams led the league in charges drawn his rookie season — an even more impressive stat considering he only played 49 games; for reference, second-placed Kevin Love needed 62 games to accrue 33 drawn charges.
While the Thunder survived with a top-half of the league defense, it’s hard to envision the way they accomplished that is sustainable. Commending Williams for stepping up when OKC needed a center, a lot of their defensive success felt like smoke and mirrors. If the Thunder are going to have an above-average defense for the long term, it’ll need to happen because of legit rim protection — which Chet Holmgren is projected to provide.
But I digress, considering his role and what was reasonably expected from his rookie season, Williams was superb. An incredibly solid campaign for the 34th overall pick who had a rocky start to his season
Moving Forward:
Considering the fact that Williams will likely be asked to be a backup big who can bring energy, I really like Williams’ future with the Thunder — especially if the 3-point shooting is legit as he showed in the latter half of the season.
While it’s unrealistic to expect a 43% 3-point shooter at a decent clip, if Williams can be a legitimate threat from outside, that’ll quickly expand his role on the Thunder.
Until then though, Williams will likely be a good rotation big who can spot start for the Thunder when needed and the defense will not suffer completely. His charge-taking ability should help make up for his lack of size and rim protection, but that feels a bit more gimmicky than sustainable. Relying on the referee’s whistle to stop paint buckets feels like playing with fire.
I’m more intrigued by Williams’ playmaking ability as a center; he showed signs throughout the year of knowing what to do with the ball in his hands in the high post and timing his passes to cut teammates perfectly. He fits perfectly into what OKC is trying to build due to his sneakily good passing skills.
If he doesn’t draw charges at the rate he did this past season, Williams at least has his outside shot and passing ability to provide positives for the Thunder and won’t turn into a one-trick pony.
And considering Williams’ offensive load will likely be reduced with the return of Holmgren and the addition of another lottery rookie — along with the natural progression of his first-round teammates — that should be more than enough tools for the eighth-10th man in the ideal rotation.
Final Grade: B+
Story originally appeared on Thunder Wire