Though perhaps lost in the shadow of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's otherworldly stardom among casual fans, ESPN recently unveiled to the world what the OKC Thunder faithful have known for years about his co-star, Jalen Williams.
He's without question one of the best players the league has to offer.
Thunder star Jalen Williams ranked as 11-best NBA player by ESPN
Recently, the publication released the 50 through 11 section for their rankings of the top 100 players currently in the NBA. Out of the 89 names mentioned so far, five are members of the Thunder.
The highest-ranked of the bunch is Williams, who just narrowly missed out on a top-10 slot at 11 overall on ESPN's list, a jump of 33 slots from last summer's edition.
To reporter Tim MacMahon, the Thunder forward's placement is more than warranted, as he argues he's "improved by leaps and bounds in each of his three NBA seasons," and went as far as to say that he raised his game to "elite status" during the 2024-25 campaign.
Through 69 games played in 2024-25, Williams found himself dropping career-highs virtually all across the board with impressive averages of 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.7 steals, and just shy of a block while shooting 48.4 percent from the floor and 36.5 percent from deep.
He would also prove himself to be "one of the three or four most switchable defenders in the league," as per Sam Vecenie of The Athletic, as well as simply one of the best contributors overall on the less glamorous side of the ball, ranking 10 in the NBA in defensive rating (106.5) among those who saw 60 or more games played.
As a result of his tremendous on-court production, Williams would go on to earn All-Star, All-NBA Third-Team, and All-Defensive Second-Team honors, all three of which marking the first of his still incredibly young career.
However, above all of these stellar regular season metrics and high-end accolades, what truly stands out to MacMahon when it comes to the 24-year-old is that he played through the entirety of Oklahoma City's title-winning postseason with torn ligaments in his shooting wrist that ultimately required surgery without "uttering a peep of complaint."
With said ailment, he would continue to drop elite, all-around averages of 21.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 1.4 steals per game and would even score 40 points in Game 5 of the championship round, falling behind Magic Johnson and Thunder legend Russell Westbrook as the third-youngest player in history to register such a scoring feat in a single game of the NBA Finals.
MacMahon believes Williams will now "forever be part of the franchise's lore" as a result. With this, coupled with his electrifying junior season as a whole, the forward finds himself entering year four viewed as the 11-best player in the association.
With a fully recovered right wrist on his side, the hope is that, by year's end, he can join SGA in the top 10.