The Oklahoma City Thunder are just one win away from winning an NBA Championship and a big reason why has been the leap taken by wing Jalen Williams. In just his third season, Williams made his first All-Star team and now the wing, who wears No. 8 in honor of Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, is shining on the NBA’s biggest stage.
Game 5 will undoubtedly go down as one of the biggest performances in Williams’ career as he dropped 40 points to push the Thunder to victory. In fact, he passed his idol Kobe as well as Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo in needing just 35 minutes to reach that 40-point mark, the fewest for a 40-point game in NBA Finals history. It took Kobe and Giannis 38 minutes to do so.
After some struggles earlier in the playoffs, Williams has transcended to a new level and much of that has to do with him embracing that ‘Mamba Mentality’ the Lakers legend was known for, as he spoke about in an interview with ESPN’s Malika Andrews:
“I’m a big Kobe fan, yeah… Just like the mentality. Obviously I don’t think I play anything like Kobe, I kind of threw that out when I was younger. But the more I get in these positions, the more I understand like the way that he was and I think that’s what makes it fun to be in these situations.”
It’s normal for many players to struggle deeper into the playoffs, especially when they’re young and haven’t experienced the intensity before. Williams has taken his lumps and growing pains, just like Bryant did in his early days with the Lakers, and now he is ready and able to take on anything that gets thrown his way.
Williams is averaging 25.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists in the NBA Finals so far and only seems to be getting more comfortable as the series progresses. And if he can put together one more amazing performance, he will be hoisting his first Larry O’Brien trophy.
Jalen Williams sees a lot of similarities between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lakers legend Kobe Bryant
Of course it is Jalen Williams’ teammate, the 2025 NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has been getting much of the attention all year long and rightfully so. In the midst of it, the Thunder guard has drawn some comparisons to Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and Williams says he sees ‘a lot of similarities’ between the two.
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