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Jalen Williams Rumors
So I wonder — what’s the fun play for you, though? Like, that was beautiful, but there’s got to be a bucket list where you’re like, “Yo, this is something I’ve always wanted to do. I probably shouldn’t, but I’m going to do it.” Jalen Williams: Um, I wouldn’t say “probably shouldn’t do.” I like going to Japan. Like, I went last year. I’m going to go again this year. So I look forward to that. I like just going out. I’m going to go shop out in Japan and do some damage clothing-wise — buy some clothes. But I don’t really have anything crazy. No Bugattis or anything like that. My contract extension doesn’t even hit till next year. I’ve got to wait till next year to do something crazy.
Jalen Williams: No, I mean, the city shows love. It’s just like a different energy. I wouldn’t say anything’s really changed. There’s just more of a proud feeling everywhere you go. Everybody’s excited about the future, excited about what happens. They’re going to have that feeling forever — just it being the first one. And hopefully, I get to be there as long as possible to experience that.
We caught up with 24-year-old J-Dub at LAX this week to ask what it's been like ... and he admitted he hasn't been able to process any of it -- including his fat payday. "It's surreal," Williams said. "I know everybody kind of uses that term, but it's wild because it happened really fast, like within the span of three years, my life is completely different." "But yeah, I mean, it's cool. I've been fortunate enough to retire my parents."
Zach Lowe: I’ve heard from people who have seen the contract. The Chet Holmgren contract is just a straight 25% max across the board. There's no escalators in it that I know of, anything like that. And Jalen Williams, I think, will have the escalators in it.
The Oklahoma City Thunder has signed guard/forward Jalen Williams to a multi-year contract extension, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti.
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Jorge Sierra: The Thunder have $863 million in salaries committed to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams. Safe to say they have a lot of faith in their core.
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Jalen Williams close to extension with the Thunder
Shams Charani: George, I’m told the Thunder are now fully focused on finishing up Jalen Williams— their All-NBA star guard-forward—extension. There is momentum in those conversations. There have been positive talks, and both sides are aligned on where those negotiations are going.
Thunder extend Chet Holmgren's contract; Jalen Williams next
Shams Charania: Breaking: Oklahoma City Thunder star and NBA champion Chet Holmgren has agreed to a fully guaranteed five-year maximum rookie contract extension that could reach $250 million, agent Bill Duffy of WME Basketball told ESPN. After missing three months during the season, Holmgren returned in February and came back stronger to help lead OKC and its young core to the NBA title. The Thunder will now move toward locking in All-NBA superstar Jalen Williams, who has momentum in his rookie extension talks.
Jalen Williams: Me and D-Book had a jump ball. You know how you wrestle for the ball and nobody really wants to give it up? That’s basically what happened. I remember pulling my hand out of the mix—there were a couple people involved—and I heard what sounded like a paper ripping or a switch-type noise. Then my hand was just on fire. The whole top of my wrist was burning. If I backtrack a little, I think what made it give out was that I’d already been dealing with a wrist sprain most of the season. It was frustrating because I had just gotten to a point where I was shooting better, had gotten used to the pain, and the sprain was improving. Then I tore it completely. I finished that game. It was burning. I think I took some ibuprofen during the game and was good after that—didn’t feel much. I was in Arizona, my family and friends were there, so I didn’t really think about it. After the game we had team dinner, went out with family, and then when I got to the hotel, halfway through the night my hand swelled up like crazy. My fingers were fat, my whole wrist was swollen. I couldn’t flex it up or down or side to side. It was the worst it had ever been. We got an MRI the next day after I flew back. Still in pain, couldn’t move it. Worst it’s ever felt. Got the results back two days later—they said I tore it. This was around the time the season had just ended, so we had about a week off. I think we got nine days total, maybe a little more. That time off helped.
Jalen Williams: They told me—and I don’t want to make this a “Kobe thing”—but he was someone they brought up who had played through it. So it was doable. That week, I worked on changing my jump shot to shoot in a way that relied only on my fingertips, with no follow-through. I practiced that for about six days. Then we decided on a cortisone shot and a lidocaine shot. I started practicing with those, and you’ll see a time-lapse of that in the video. I got lidocaine shots before every single playoff game and sometimes mid-week too, just so I could keep working on my jumper. I also tried different tape jobs, coming in after practice to experiment with what would let me dribble without flexing my hand. Big shoutout to the medical team—the doctors, Donnie, Toby, everyone across the street that helped. They were huge throughout the playoffs. We played the Memphis series first. My hand held up okay. The good thing about that series was we only had a day between games, so I didn’t have to deal with stiffness as much.
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