During their historic 18-1 start to the year over the first 19 games of action, all OKC Thunder fans could talk about was how much stronger they expected this team to be once Jalen Williams made his return to the lineup.
Sidelined since the early stages of July following an operation on his right wrist, the idea of adding an established All-NBA and All-Defensive talent to this scorching-hot squad seemed like a clear recipe for success.
However, fast-forwarding 18 games into his return to action, it's clear that Oklahoma City has regressed in a rather notable way, and it's hard not to see the correlation between this rough stretch and J-Dub's reintegration into the rotation.
Thunder have regressed since Jalen Williams returned to action
Since Williams made his way back to the hardwood on November 28, the Thunder have gone 12-6.
Though certainly a solid mark, as it's tied for the fourth-best record in the entire league throughout this stretch, it's far from their one-loss domination tour they were on during the month and change prior.
Of course, their decline in production is seen in areas well beyond mere record.
With Williams in the fold, Oklahoma City's points per game averages have gone down from 122.1 to 120.3, its defensive rating has dropped from 102.9 to 107.2, and its net rating has dipped from 16.4 to 10.1.
On top of all this, with the forward on the floor since making his debut, the offensive rating for the Thunder drops to 114.5, which is the third-worst mark on the team for those who have logged over 200 minutes of action.
Meanwhile, with him on the sidelines, they spike back up to a rating of 118.1, the second-highest rise.
It also doesn't help that since making his bold proclamation that this year's Thunder team would best the 2017 Warriors and 1995 Chicago Bulls (two teams argued as the greatest of all time), OKC has gone a middling 6-6.
No, this shouldn't be seen as an indication that Oklahoma City is a worse team in the long run with J-Dub. Let's not forget that he's coming off a career-best campaign in 2024-25 and played a key role in the franchise claiming their first title of the Sooner State era while playing with a torn scapholunate ligament in his dominant hand.
With that said, these struggles and overall drop-off in team success are hard to ignore, and the Thunder are going to need to find a way to get him back to last year's form if they want to have any shot at raising a second straight banner into the rafters out at Paycom Center.