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Jalen Williams Rumors
Jalen Williams: I think the only thing with giving like kids that much money is like you kind of ruin a little bit of the college experience 'cause like, looking at it for me, it was like low-key fun looking back. Like some of my fun stuff was like not having money in college 'cause that's like part of the experience. Everybody's broke in college.”
Jalen Williams ranks his 'welcome to the NBA' moments: Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant
Jalen Williams: Kawhi Leonard had a bad night, I think there's like a clip where Lu (Dort) like didn't even let him get a shot off at the end. So we beat the Clippers. Kawhi had a horrible game. I did a good job guarding him. So, I'm juiced. But we play them back to back. He started the game out nine for nine on me. We go back to the huddle. Mark (Daigneault) is like, this is funny. Mark, everybody don't know but Mark says slick stuff. He's like, "He's busting your ass, Jalen. We need to switch." I looked at him and I was like, "Yeah.” So, Kawhi had nine for nine, then Lu on him, and Kawhi ended up like having 30 something. Klay Thompson, I was playing defense on him a whole night. He hit one from behind the backboard and as it's going in, he slapped me on my butt and said “Good try, rookie”. Kevin Durant hadn't played in OKC in a little bit and he came back to OKC and he was wildin’. Fans chirping at him and KD is like talking back. He’s talking to the fans while he bumping me, shooting over me and stuff. It was horrible, bro. Those are the three like welcome to the NBA moments.
Tony Allen: I want to hear about where did that damn celebration after a good game and a crowd come around in the interview. Where the hell did that come about? That's the thing now cuz people were hating on that boat. People were saying they too having too much fun. and they think it's a game and what are they doing? You heard it. Just speak to that too much fun… Jalen Williams: It's like bro I'm 22 years old making millions of dollars and we're first in the west. What do you want me to be sad? Like I never understood that.
Jalen Williams: I was getting Joe Ingles comps coming into the league
Who were some of the NBA comparisons you were hearing coming in? Like, when you were hearing, “Okay, it’s time. I gotta leave now”? Jalen Williams: They weren’t really what made me leave, but I got guys like Joe Ingles. Joe, man — Joe’s my boy. It’s funny — me and my team were like, “Ain’t no way they thought he was no damn Joe, bro!” I gotta find the thing… yeah, yeah. Joe’s the homie though — salute to Kill. Yeah, he was a good chiller. Yeah, Joe... I got Joe Ingles. Me and my trainer — when I got drafted — he gave me Joe’s trading card, just as a joke. But I think my ceiling was like Harden, and then they were saying I played like Joe Ingles. So that was mine too, coming out of college.
A left-handed player himself, Murray-Boyles grew up watching and trying to emulate James Harden, but as his game started to take shape, his influences changed. He admired like-minded forwards such as Draymond Green, Aaron Gordon, Jalen Williams, Toumani Camara, and another player with famously big and quick hands, former Raptor Kawhi Leonard. He studied the way they used their length, physicality and anticipation, and how they balanced being aggressive without taking too many unnecessary risks.
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Some of the top-selling items so far include: Chet Holmgren’s Game 2 jersey: $40,640, Jalen Williams’ Game 2 jersey: $38,100, Game 1 basketball: $12,700 IMGhttps://www.instagram.com/reel/DMX58UpxQQH/
Zach Lowe: A couple people who have seen the Jalen Williams contract have described it to me like this. It has the escalators for all for all the All-NBA defense player of the year, MVP stuff. These people have told me, "Here's how the escalators work." And this to me is like a fair negotiation of how I would like a lot of these to go. Third team All-NBA, you bump up from 25 to 26%. Second team All-NBA, you bump up from 25 to 27%. All other things, first team All-NBA in the major individual awards, the full 30% max. I've always said that third team All-NBA should be treated as a different thing. That's one way of doing it.
Jalen Williams on TJ McConnell: Dude's so annoying... Special player, though
Jalen Williams talked about T.J. McConnell's surprise series against the Thunder. He joined PJ Washington in the club of role players who stepped up against them in a playoff series. The 24-year-old reflected on their championship run in his "The Young Man and The Three" podcast episode. “Dude’s so annoying,” Williams joked. “Special player, though. What’s cool is, looking back at it, and I was even able to share a couple of moments with him during the game, he was really cool to me when I got drafted.”
While the 33-year-old was a huge plus for the Pacers, relying on him to create buckets isn't a sustainable full-game plan. “We were thinking the same thing,” Williams said. “He ran off a run, and we were going into the huddle like, 'Bro.' But yeah, he was annoying during that series, and annoying is obviously a good thing, just on the other end of that.”
Williams talked about McConnell's surprise series against the Thunder. He joined PJ Washington in the club of role players who stepped up against them in a playoff series. The 24-year-old reflected on their championship run in his "The Young Man and The Three" podcast episode. “Dude’s so annoying,” Williams joked. “Special player, though. What’s cool is, looking back at it, and I was even able to share a couple of moments with him during the game, he was really cool to me when I got drafted.”
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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.
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