Just last week, Jalen Williams made sure to remind everyone he's still on the OKC Thunder, as the injured forward hilariously commandeered ESPN's postgame interview following their blowout win over the Los Angeles Lakers by saying, "I'm still on the team."
And while this fact should unquestionably come as a delight for Oklahoma City fans near and far, even if he weren't a member of the organization, this ball club seems to have proven itself capable of handily dominating virtually everyone it faces.
Since the start of last season, the Thunder have played 31 total games without their All-Star forward in the lineup. Though they are objectively at their best when sporting a full-strength roster, in games without Williams, OKC has been absolutely deadly, going 30-1 while outscoring opponents by an average of 18.9 points per game.
Thunder have track record of dominating without Jalen Williams
To be clear, this factoid is not at all an implication that Oklahoma City is better off without J-Dub in tow.
Far from it, in fact.
Since being drafted 12 overall back in the 2022 NBA Draft, the Santa Clara product has only managed to improve his game with every passing season.
Frankly, without his efforts during last year's regular season and playoff run (especially his 40-point eruption in Game 5 of the NBA Finals), there's a rather realistic chance that the Thunder would not be playing through this 2025-26 campaign as reigning champions.
However, what this insane success rate does show is that Oklahoma City has seemingly mastered the "next man up" plug-and-play approach, thanks in large part to its electrifying depth chart.
As NBA legend Lou Williams recently pointed out, "everybody they plug in can play," a luxury that, through just over a month of action, has them once again favored to take home the Larry O'Brien Trophy in 2026.
Obviously, there should be no question that adding Williams back to this top-ranked lineup would significantly improve their chances of repeating.
After all, we're talking about an established All-NBA and All-Defensive talent fresh off averaging 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 1.6 steals per game, joining a team that, as of this writing, is off to the 10-best start in league history.
However, until he gets the all-clear to return to action following offseason wrist surgery, Thunder fans should be more than confident that this team's domination over the rest of the association can and will continue.