On an Oklahoma City Thunder team with All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Rookie of the Year candidate Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams can get overlooked.
The New York Knicks’ Jalen Brunson was overlooked at times early in his career, too.
On Wednesday in Oklahoma City, Williams and Brunson will meet when the Thunder and Knicks square off.
Williams is coming off a 21-point, 7-of-11 shooting performance in the Thunder’s 129-106 win over the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday.
“He made two straight threes in the third, then he came down on another possession and he could have ripped one. He just reversed the ball,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said of Williams. “That’s one of the things I have utmost respect for him about — he just plays the play in front of him.”
Williams has scored a total of 49 points and made 18 of 28 shots from the floor in Oklahoma City’s past two games. He is making significant strides in his sophomore season.
“He’s a really good player,” Daigneault said. “I have an admiration for how hard he plays. He has great maturity.”
Williams is averaging 17.6 points per game, up from the 14.1 average he posted as a rookie.
The Thunder enter play Wednesday having won four of their last five games, with their largest margin of victory in that span coming on Tuesday.
“I thought we played a 48-minute game on offense,” Daigneault said after the win, a game in which Oklahoma City tied its season high by shooting 60.5 percent from the floor.
Brunson is coming off one of his best showings of the season, a 38-point, six-assist effort in New York’s 129-122 Christmas Day win over the visiting Milwaukee Bucks.
Brunson scored 15 points in the first quarter as the Knicks jumped out to a 36-27 lead.
“I just thought the energy level was back to where it needed to be,” New York coach Tom Thibodeau said of his team’s hot start.
Four Knicks — Brunson, Julius Randle, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley — scored at least 20 points and four New York players recorded four or more of the team’s 27 assists.
“It was fun to play like that when everybody is moving and touching (the ball),” Quickley said. “I think our defense really bled into our offense, so that has got to be the way every night.”
The biggest advantage for the Knicks against the Thunder is the glass, as New York is second in the league in rebounding percentage, pulling down 52.3 percent of possible rebounds. The Thunder are next-to-last in the league in the category at 47.2 percent.
Both teams have been among the league’s best in limiting turnovers, with Oklahoma City averaging just 12.8 (fourth in the NBA) and the Knicks averaging 12.9 (tied for fifth).
The Thunder are forcing an NBA-best 16.7 turnovers per game — nearly a turnover more than any other team in the league. The Knicks are just 21st at 13.3 giveaways forced per contest.
Oklahoma City is 6-1 against the Eastern Conference this season, while the Knicks are 4-5 against the West.
The Knicks’ Jericho Sims is expected to miss his fourth consecutive game due to a right ankle sprain.
