A healthy Jalen Williams being reintroduced to this OKC Thunder squad for the 2026-27 season is truly a frightening thought for all 29 other teams in the league.
Even the NBA itself is seemingly stressing this.
In a recent post on X, the association's own personal account shared a quick blurb of why every ball club should feel optimistic heading into the upcoming campaign.
When it came to the Thunder, the logic was quick, simple, and straight to the point: "A healthy Jalen Williams is a game-changer."
Last season, Williams was plagued by nagging health issues, most notably frequent hamstring strains that popped up in both legs. Ultimately, he was limited to a mere 33 games in the regular season and missed 10 of OKC's 15 playoff games as a result.
Even in the games he was able to suit up for, he was a mere shell of his full-strength self.
Now, with a full offseason of rest, rehab, and physical revelations under his belt, the hope is that he'll be able to put all of these injury problems in the rearview and reestablish himself as the "game-changer" the literal NBA even fully understands him to be.
Thunder were great without Jalen Williams, but are better with him
It's undeniable that the Thunder were still a force to be reckoned with during the 2025-26 campaign even without a healthy Jalen Williams in the fold.
They won a league-best 64 games, finished first in the Western Conference standings for the third straight season, and took the eventual West champs, the San Antonio Spurs, all the way to Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals.
Yet, even with all of this success, they still wound up falling short of a second-straight championship. Having a 100 percent J-Dub in the fold would have certainly helped on this front.
After all, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander correctly pointed out during Thunder Media Day earlier this week, Williams is an "All-NBA talent who puts the ball in the basket and guards one through five."
The last time the Thunder were equipped with a full-go Dub, he was dropping a ridiculous 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 1.6 steals per game on 48.4 percent shooting from the floor and 36.5 percent shooting from deep and played a pivotal role in the club's 2025 title run.
Without his services, Oklahoma City fell just nine points shy of clinching their second straight NBA Finals berth last year. Though playing the "What-if" game is always risky, it's hard to believe that his elite two-way play wouldn't have made the impact they desperately needed to advance.
Add us as a preferred source on Google