Jalen Williams returns, igniting the Thunder's playoff push. His stellar play is silencing concerns and reclaiming his All-Star form, crucial for championship aspirations.
Oklahoma City Thunder fans by and large have had one main concern as the team heads into the playoffs in an attempt to win back to back NBA championships.
And Jalen Williams is helping to ease any Thunder fans' worried minds.
OKC has remained on top of the Western Conference standings all season long despite a list of injuries shorter only than the tanking Memphis Grizzlies. Williams, the Thunder's second best player during their title run last year, has missed 45 games over the 2025-2026 schedule.
The fear for Oklahoma City fans has been that the All-NBA player would not have time to get his rhythm, chemistry or conditioning up to his usual standards by tip off time for Round 1 of the postseason. Well, four games into his return and Williams has played like his All-Star self in three of those contests. Given the fact that he just miss over five weeks in his last injury stretch, a 75% success rate is a big win for the Thunder.
"We've missed him most of the year," Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said after the 111-100 win over the Knicks. "He's a high high level player. Obviously, he's a great player.. He was outstanding tonight."
Williams had his best night since his comeback in OKC's nationally televised victory on Sunday night. He scored 22 points on 7-11 shooting including 1-1 from the 3 point line and 7-7 from the free throw line. The fan favorite also provided the highlight of the night when he outraced four Knicks the full length of the court and finished a tough bucket.
"Dub is such a big part of why we won last year," Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said when asked about Williams working himself back from injury. "We have no choice but to trust him. No choice but to put the ball in his hands.. He's a really great player. He's one of the biggest reasons we won last year. We have full trust in him."
The Thunder have a 2.5 game lead over the San Antonio Spurs with seven games remaining. Oklahoma City has a tougher schedule than the Spurs the rest of the way. The pressure is on if OKC wishes to secure the #1 seed and homecourt advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs for the third straight season.
But having Jalen Williams back and looking more and more like himself each game could go a long way to help the Thunder pull off the first place hat trick.