Jalen Williams Takes Second Spot In The Latest ROTY Rankings

The Oklahoma City Thunder struck gold in the 2022 NBA Draft. Sam Presti has displayed why he earns the big bucks and has the GM  title. Time and Time again, Presti has been able to find needles in haystacks. The acquisition and performance of Jalen Williams will keep that reputation alive.

On March 5th, in a win over the Utah Jazz, Jalen Williams produced 30 points, five rebounds, and five assists on his way to a career-high of 32 points. With this performance, Williams etched his name alongside the great company of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, becoming just the third rookie in franchise history to have a 30 points, five rebounds, and five assists game.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have seen their rookie, Jalen Williams, leap to the second spot on the rookie ladder this season.

The dominant slashing wing put up 15 shots, knocking down 12 of them, with four made three-pointers to assist OKC in the 10-point victory at home. Jalen Williams moving up to the second spot in the NBA Rookie rankings, knocking Ben Mathurin out of the spot he’s held for so long, is well deserved after averaging 23 points, 4.6 rebounds, and five assists over his last six games.

If you compare Williams’s recent surge to earlier in the season in December, he played 16 games, averaging just 10 points in 26 minutes, we can see that rookie has come a long way throughout the season and has increased his points, assist, and rebounds more and more each month of the season.

Williams still has some things to work on if he wants to become a true star player in the league, but the basics of his game have already brought him very far.

Like his points, rebounds, and assists, Williams’ three-point percentage has been increasing every month since November 2022. He is currently shooting at 66.7% from behind the arc three games into this month, which would be tough to sustain throughout the month. However, we could still be looking at a well above-average three-point percentage come April if he could at least continue to shoot as well as he did in February. Again, his size and quickness paired with his offensive IQ and ability.