For the first time all season, the OKC Thunder played without superstar spearhead Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in a Friday night bout against the Dallas Mavericks.
While there were certainly exciting moments strewn throughout the contest as well as a down-to-the-wire finish that had everyone at Paycom Center on their feet, ultimately it was the Luka Doncic-less Mavs who would have the last laugh as they downed Oklahoma City by a final score of 106-98 led by Kyrie Irving's 25-point, 5-assist, 5-rebound performance.
Though this game was simply a mere regular season contest between two sub-full strength squads, there's an argument to be made that some of the takeaways from it are a bit more daunting than fans may wish to believe.
Perhaps the biggest is that Jalen Williams still has a ways to go with his game and, until he steps up, it'll be hard to take the Thunder seriously as clearcut contenders.
Thunder need Jalen Williams to step up before thinking of championship
Without Gilgeous-Alexander in the fold against the Mavericks, Oklahoma City looked to J-Dub as their go-to option on the hardwood.
Solely looking at his superficial stat line, it would appear that the third-year forward had himself quite a productive showing as he finished out his 37 minutes of action with 19 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds.
However, for those who watched the game and dived deeper into the advanced metrics, it's obvious that this well-rounded box score is a bit misleading. Williams was highly inefficient with his jumper, going just 7-for-22 from the floor (31.8 percent) and 1-for-5 from deep (20.0 percent). He was also rather damaging in the turnover department, coughing the ball up six times.
Defense ➡️ offense pic.twitter.com/0tkhbWOqvG
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) January 18, 2025
Now, on the one hand, one could make the case that this was only a one-off bad game for the 23-year-old, for the rest of his season has been filled with high-end, historically paced production that could realistically lead him to his first All-Star berth in February.
However, on the other, this showing seemed to serve as a daunting reminder of how Jalen Williams has faired in high-pressure moments when needed to take on a heavier than usual load, particularly on the offensive end.
Let's not forget that this is the same Mavericks team that handily suppressed the forward's impact on the floor under the bright lights of last postseason's semifinals, particularly when forced to take over as a primary scoring weapon with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander heavily swarmed (shot just 38.5 percent on unassisted field goal attempts).
Even before this second-round rematch, it's not like he tempered any fears over his ability to bring his play to another level on offense during this year's NBA Cup Championship game either, as he dropped 18 points on a pedestrian 40.0 percent shooting from the floor and an even worse 25.0 percent from deep.
On the surface, Friday night may have only been the seventh loss of the year for this Thunder team and, in turn, could easily be forgotten as the campaign continues.
However, when delving deeper into it, it could be perceived as a warning sign that Jalen Williams still may not be ready to be the number two option this team needs to have running alongside SGA on their quest for a title in 2025.