It seems people have forgotten just how stellar a player Jalen Williams is when healthy. The OKC Thunder star endured quite a challenging 2025-26 campaign from a health standpoint, as he entered hobbled from offseason wrist surgery and ran into a bevy of hamstring strains as the year went on.
As a result of these ailments, the All-NBA wing was limited to just 33 games of regular-season action and missed the vast majority of Oklahoma City's ill-fated playoff excursion.
With his lack of run, Williams has found his status around the league plummet, with platforms like Bleacher Report having him fall from the 15-best player heading into last season to being projected nearly outside the top-30 players once the year 2030 rolls around.
This kind of "what have you done for me lately" mentality is really starting to have a negative effect on J-Dub's reputation, so much so that he's merely seen as a bubble option in one of the latest predictions for the U.S. men's basketball roster for the 2028 Olympics.
2026-27 could be the perfect time for him to thrust his name back up to his rightful distinction of a virtual lock for the national team.
Thunder star could up odds of making Olympics with strong bounce-back
The last we saw Williams regularly taking to the hardwood was during the 2024-25 season, when he established himself as the unquestioned number two next to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on this dynasty-pushing Thunder squad.
Behind averages of 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 1.6 steals on 48.4 percent shooting from the floor and 36.5 percent shooting from deep, and with well-earned All-Star, All-NBA, and All-Defensive honors, the Santa Clara product became widely regarded as one of the best two-way wings in the game today.
He would only further cement himself as a bona fide star throughout their illustrious postseason run, where, despite dealing with a torn scapholunate ligament in his shooting wrist, he still posted 23.6 points per game in the championship round, and even dropped a 40-point special in a crucial Game 5 win during their NBA Finals matchup against Indiana.
Yet, despite this incredible level of production and top-notch accolades, Williams still finds himself on the outside looking in on making the final cut for Team USA's 12-man roster, with objectively less accomplished talents like Jalen Johnson and Cooper Flagg being projected as national representatives instead.
There's a real recency bias in the association, with its latest victim being Jalen Williams' deserved status as an elite force on both ends of the floor.
Hopefully, a strong bounce-back year should have him right back on track toward being a top option for Erik Spoelstra's national squad.
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