Jaylin Williams inks multi-year deal with OKC Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder focused heavily on the 2022 NBA Draft, in the second draft of this rebuild, the Thunder walked away with their second straight four-prospect class. The OKC Thunder quickly signed 2nd overall pick Chet Holmgren, 11th overall pick Ousmane Dieng, and 12th overall pick Jalen Williams to contracts prior to the tip-off of the Salt Lake City Summer League session earlier this week. However, those deals are easier to work out given their Rookie-scale slotting nature. With second-round picks like Jaylin Williams, there is more negotiations involved from things like team/player-option, non-guaranteed money, length, and amount.

After the 2022 NBA Draft wrapped up, the Oklahoma City Thunder fanbase held out hope that Jaylin Williams might sneak his way onto a two-way deal that would help the OKC Thunder roster crunch. However, you do not see NBA Draft prospects begin to sign two-way deals until the 40s and 50s, and with Williams being a top-35 pick, it was clear he would be on a contract similar to last year’s high second-round selection, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl.

The only reason that the hope had any merit to it, was the OKC Thunder’s track record of signing two-way players to standard NBA contracts. However, that is just not a bet most agents are willing to make, especially when OKC elected to make the selection with the 34th slot instead of trading back.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have signed Jaylin Williams to a multi-year deal similar to fellow Thunder big man Jeremiah Robinson-Earl’s contract

The Oklahoma City Thunder signed Jaylin Williams to a four-year, 8.2-million dollar rookie contract. It is unclear what the full details are, but you should expect a team option and/or non-guaranteed money throughout the length of this contract.

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, for example, has a club option in year four worth 1.9-million dollars, and the 1.9-million dollars owed to him in 2023-24 is non-guaranteed. That gives OKC two ways out of that deal, and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl just two years of guaranteed money.

However, the Villanova product was able to show in just one season that he is worth keeping around for the duration of this contract. Jaylin Williams hopes to do the same.