Holly Rowe interview with Thunder's Jaylin and Jalen Williams gets awkward
A postgame interview conducted by Holly Rowe with Thunder players Jalen Williams and Jaylin Williams got a little uncomfortable Monday night. Following OKC’s 95-85 win against Utah in the Summer League, both players joined Rowe on the court along with Chet Holmgren and Tre Mann.
As Rowe turned to address Jalen Williams she told him, “we dubbed you THE Jalen Williams tonight.” Realizing that Jaylin Williams was standing right behind her, she turned to him to add “no offense, young man.”
That led to some awkward reactions from the players being interviewed as Jaylin Williams gave a puzzled look to Holmgren as he tried to laugh off the moment. Mann had perhaps the funniest reaction of the bunch, giving a side-eye to Jaylin Williams as if to ask, “are you gonna let her say that?” You can view the moment below.
Rowe wasn’t the person who originally came up with the nickname, as analyst Thurl Bailey used “the” to refer to Jalen Williams during the game. He finished with a team-high 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting despite playing just 22 minutes. It wasn’t as if Jaylin Williams didn’t also play well, however, nearly recording a double-double with eight points and 13 rebounds.
Thunder fans have dealt with the name confusion since this past season when both players were rookies and have a couple of ways to differentiate between Jalen and Jaylin Williams. Jalen is either referred to as “J-Dub” or “Santa Clara Williams” after where he went to college. Jaylin goes by “J-Will” or “Arkansas Williams” because he played for the Razorbacks.
Both players were key pieces of the Thunder down the stretch of the 2022-23 season, starting together to lead OKC to a play-in win against the Pelicans. Jalen Williams finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting and was named first-team All-Rookie after averaging 14.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists while shooting 52.1% from the floor.
Jaylin Williams really came into his own after the All-Star break, starting all 24 games to average 6.5 points and 5.3 rebounds across 21.7 minutes. Both players figure to play a key role in the upcoming season as the Thunder hope to break into the playoffs after exceeding expectations this past year.
As for Jalen and Jaylin Williams, they have been used to hearing these sorts of things for a while. The only thing that could potentially get more confusing for the Thunder is if they add Auburn forward Jaylin Williams in next year’s NBA Draft.