One of the least shocking things from the 2024-25 NBA season came to light on Thursday night, as OKC Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named an All-Star starter for the second-straight campaign.
Already having taken part in two prior, this February's exhibition out in San Fransisco will mark his third total time partaking in the illustrious mid-season event. With averages of 32.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 2.0 steals, and 1.1 blocks on 52.9 percent shooting from the field it's hard to argue against his latest bid.
However, while these final voting totals may not be all that shocking to see when it comes to SGA, a pleasant surprise was how his Thunder running mate Jalen Williams stacked up, as it may be a strong indicator that his first selection to the big game may be right on the horizon.
Thunder forward Jalen Williams ranks seventh in West frontcourt votes
The voting process takes many different categories of votes into account, especially when determining who the starters will be as the 10 total players selected received their bid by weighted averages of the fan (counts for 50 percent), players (25 percent), and media (25 percent) votes.
Out of those residing in the Western Conference, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander received the top weighted score, beating out Warriors cornerstone Stephen Curry. For the frontcourt tallies, Nikola Jokic, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant ranked in at one, two, and three, respectively, thus leading to their inclusion in coach Mark Daigneault's starting five.
However, it's worth noting that Jalen Williams placed within the conference's top 10. With a weighted score of 7.25, he tied Rockets big Alperen Sengun and edged out established stars like Grizzlies defensive anchor Jaren Jackson Jr. and Kings power forward Domantas Sabonis, both of whom boast a weighted score of 8.25.
Broken down, he ranked seventh in the fan vote, sixth in player vote, and ninth in media vote.
What's encouraging about this placement is that J-Dub's status in the association and accreditation is more understood by those within the league rather than on-lookers on the outskirts, yet he still brought in a high number of votes.
As a result, now with the NBA's head coaches rounded out the All-Star rosters by selecting the reserves, it could easily be inferred that Williams could easily punch his ticket to the in-season exhibition. It also helps that his own head coach Mark Daigneault will be the one running the sidelines for the Western Conference this year.
From his highly valuable positional versatility to his historically-paced counting stats of 21.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 1.8 steals on 47.8 percent shooting from the floor, it's more than evident that the Thunder forward is playing like a worthy All-Star selection in year three.
It was always assumed that the coaches across the association understood this, but, with the latest voting results, it seems that fans, players, and pundits are aware of his worthiness as well.